Hiking in the Hills of Assassin near Qazvin, Iran

Who were the Assassins?

Wikipedia: The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin or Assassins) was a religious sect of Ismaili Muslims from the Nizari sub-sect. They had a militant basis which was employed in various political or religious purposes. [1] They were thought to be active in the 8th to 14th centuries. [2] This mystic secret society was known to specialize in terrorising the European crusaders with fearlessly executed, politically motivated assassinations.[3] The word "assassin" is derived from their name.[4] Their own name for the sect was al-da'wa al-jadīda (الدعوةالجديدة)

Legends abound as to the tactics used to induct members into what became a quasi-religious political organization. A future assassin was subjected to rites similar to those of other mystery cults in which the subject was made to believe that he was in imminent danger of death. But the twist of the assassins was that they drugged the person to simulate a "dying" to later have them awaken in a garden flowing with wine and served a sumptuous feast by virgins. The supplicant was then convinced he was in Heaven and that the cult's leader, Hassan-i-Sabah, was a representative of the divinity and that all of his orders should be followed, even unto death.

This legend derives from Marco Polo, who visited Alamut ( Alamut was once a mountain fortress in the arid hills by the Elburz mountains, south of the Caspian Sea, close to Gazor Khan, near Qazvin, about 100 km from present-day Tehran in Iran. Only ruins remain of this fortress today after it fell to the Mongols in the thirteenth century).

The fortress was destroyed on December 15, 1256 by Hulagu Khan as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia. The fortress itself was impregnable, but Ruknuddin Khor-shah surrendered it without a real fight, in the vain hope that Hulagu would be merciful.

In 2004, an earthquake further damaged the already crumbling walls of the fort. It's under construction as of 2004.

See more photos here.