For hundreds of years Westerners have been fascinated by stories of the Assassins, their mysterious leader and their remote mountain stronghold at Alamut in Northern Iran. The legends first emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries, when Crusaders in Syria came into contact with the Nazari Isma''ilis, one of the communities of Shi''ite Islam who, at the behest of their leader Hassan Sabaa (mythologized as the "Old Man of the Mountain"), engaged in dangerous missions to kill their enemies. Elaborated over the years, the tales culminated in Marco Polo''s claim that the "Old Man" controlled the behaviour of his self-sacrificing devotees through the use of hashish and a secret garden of paradise. So influential were these tales that the word "assassin" entered European languages as a common noun meaning "murderer". Daftary traces the origins and early development of the legends - as well as investigating the historical context in which they were fabrica
Pris: kr 197.00 fra Norli
Butikk | Pris | |
---|---|---|
TILBUD! kr 197.00 |
Besøk butikk |
One of the most prosperous and influential dynasties of the Muslim world, the Fatimids (909¿1171) were distinguished by their Imam-caliphs, who asserted religious as well as political authority in direct descent from the family of the Prophet. Their...
kr 101.00
Mer informasjon
This volume presents the original Arabic text of Epistle 9 of the Brethren of Purity, with a clear English translation, introduction, and notes. This epistle is a major medieval treatise on ethics and character traits, which drinks from two sources: the...
kr 899.00
Mer informasjon
<P>This focused study is one of the few analytical resources in English that covers the ancient and early medieval history of one of the least studied areas of the vast mountainous Pamir region of Central Asia: Shughnan.</P><P>The book...
kr 293.00
Mer informasjon
Given the enormous struggles, efforts and money expended on the equalities enterprise, why has more progress not been made? And further, why have things actually become worse in some circumstances? It is argued this has occurred because:- The values of...
kr 469.00
Mer informasjon