Karwansaray BV

Assassin castles
Author(s): Konstantin Nossov
Source: Medieval Warfare , 2015, Vol. 5, No. 4, Theme: The Caliphate of Córdoba (2015),
pp. 39-43
Published by: Karwansaray BV

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/48578476

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 The castle

Strongholds of a militant sect in Syria

Assassin castles
The nizari ismaili sect, known today as the assassins, emerged in
iran among militant ismaili in the eleventh century, when syria was
torn to pieces by fighting between the fatimids, the seljuq Turks and
the Byzantines. making use of the situation, the assassins quickly
spread their influence over syria, acquired a number of castles there,
and in the twelfth-thirteenth centuries kept the whole region in awe,
playing complicated political games with the crusaders, seljuqs, fa-
timids, ayyubids, and mamluk sultans. a net of castles built by the
assassins in iran and syria allowed them to remain independent and
keep control over the territories during the following two centuries.

by dr Konstantin nossov the ‘Old Man of the Mountain’. By that time,

the Assassins possessed over a dozen castles.

B
eginning their activities in Syria
from Aleppo and other big cit-
ies, the Assassins were ousted
into mountain districts as early as
the 1120s. They tried to build military bases
north of Aleppo and south of Damascus and
even seized the important fortress of Apam-
ea, but were soon knocked out by an Antioch
prince. Their first happy acquisition was Qad-
mus Castle, bought by them from the head of
a local Muslim clan Banu Munqidh in 1132
or 1133. The castle became their first fortified
residence in Syria. Little survives from the
castle today – just the gate with a short cur-
tain – but its position atop a cliff overlooking
the town leaves an unforgettable impression.
Taking advantage of the strife between
Muslim rulers and the Crusaders, the Nizari
Ismaili acquired quite a number of castles in
the next eight years. Thus they built a forti-
fied district in the Jabal Ansariyya mountains
between the Crusaders’ County of Tripoli and
the Antioch Principality.
The Assassins reached the peak of their
power in Syria under their ill-famed, insidi-
ous and merciless leader Rashid al-Din Sinan
(1163–1193). The Crusaders nicknamed him
An exact list cannot be made as several cas-
tles changed hands and their ownership by the
Nizari Ismaili is disputable. Today the Syrian
Ismaili insist their precursors owned every cas-
tle in the district of Jabal Bahra. They certainly
did not, though. The most famous castles that
undoubtedly belonged to the Assassins are The gate of Qadmus Castle, as seen
Masyaf, Kahf, Qadmus, Rusafa, Ullayqa, Ma- from the outside. It is the only part
niqa, Abu Qubais, Khawabi. of the castle which has survived.
© Konstatin Nossov.
headquarters of the sect head
Masyaf Castle is the best known as well as the
best-preserved Assassin castle in Syria. Found-
ed in the ninth or tenth century, it was seized
by the Crusaders in 1103, and came into Assas-
sin possession in 1140/1141. Unlike other cas-
tles the sect owned, it was not situated in the
mountains, but sat upon a low hill surrounded
by a depression. The castle was rather vulner-
able to attack, so some researchers doubt that
it was the headquarters of the ‘Old man of the
Mountain’. Others assert it was the main Assas-
sin castle in Syria under Rashid al-Din Sinan.
In 1176, after two unsuccessful attempts on
his life, Saladin set himself to drive the Assas-
sins out of the region, and besieged the castle.
However, the Assassins arranged a mystical act

medieval warfare V-4 39

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 The castle
The original site of Qadmus Cas-
tle. The castle was aquired by the
Assassins in 1132-1133. It was
their first fortified residence.
© Konstantin Nossov
40 medieval warfare V-4
mw_5-4.indd 40
to make Saladin lift the siege and go away. The
Mongols seized the castle in 1260, but the As-
sassins managed to get it back the same year.
In 1271, the Nizari Ismaili had to yield it to
the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I, but the Ismaili
regained their control over the castle under the
Ottoman Turks, after which Masyaf Castle be-
came their emirs’ residence. One of the latter,
called Mustafa, left his name in an inscription
carved in a stone and dating from 1793/1794.
Three main construction periods can be
singled out in the history of Masyaf Castle. The
first fortifications, consisting of a primitive de-
fensive wall and a keep, were erected in the
ninth or tenth century. There were no or very
few towers. The second period, following short-
ly after the first, saw the walls fortified and new
towers built. It is unclear who the builders were
– the Arabs or the Byzantines, as both fought for
predominance in the region. The third and most
significant building period comes at the first
quarter of the thirteenth century, when the cas-
tle was in Assassin hands. Thirteen inscriptions
discovered in the castle date from the thirteenth
century. At that time the castle was completely
rebuilt and turned into a powerful fortress.
The castle sits on a rocky hill, towering
above the surrounding town. Both the hill and
the castle are rather small in size – about 150m
long and hardly 70m wide. The plan wasn’t
regular or symmetrical, and looks like heaps
of various buildings – which can be explained
by more than one reconstruction as well as un-
even terrain. The only entrance into the castle
used to be protected with a barbican whose
ruins can still be seen by the gate. Projecting
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towers and overhanging machicolations pro-
tected the gate (there is an opinion that the ma-
chicolations were built by the Mamluks). The
way beyond the gate forks: a corridor on the
left brings one to a small yard on the western
side of the castle, while the right-hand prong of
the fork lies between the outer wall and the cit-
adel and leads to the entrance. Two rectangu-
lar towers flank the entrance, and the staircase
goes up right to the landing between the tow-
ers, which both have entrances at this point.
The citadel had apartments ascribed by tradi-
tion to Rashid al-Din Sinan himself, although
there is no proof to support that view. Some
structures inside the castle were probably built
much later, in the eighteenth century.
The town around the castle existed in the
Middle Ages. Walls with towers and at least
four gates, which partly survive today, encir-
cled it. Judging by the inscriptions on them,
they date from the 1240s.
Kahf Castle was the best-known head-
quarters of the ‘Old Man of the Mountain’. Built
in 1120, it was acquired by the sect between
1132 and 1140 (most probably in 1138). It was
in this castle that Rashid al-Din Sinan lived and
carried on his activities from 1164 to the early
1190s. In 1197, Henry of Champagne, Regent
of Jerusalem, who was contemplating an alli-
ance with the Assassins, visited the castle. To
demonstrate his subjects’ devotion to him, the
head of the Assassins ordered two of his sol-
diers to jump down from the fortress wall. They
jumped and fell to their death. There is an opin-
ion, though, that this is no more than one of
the numerous myths concerning the Assassins.
The castle is situated atop a cliff in a ravine and
reminds one of the nest of a bird of prey. Its
buildings are in worse condition than those of
Masyaf Castle. The vertical slopes of the cliff
were its main protection. Surviving only in frag-
ments, its stone walls ran along the edges of
the slopes. The gate complex is quite interest-
ing. Leading to it is a 100m narrow path, which
runs along an upright slope once crowned with
a wall. Legend has it that Rashid al-Din Sinan
was buried somewhere here.
The ruin of a hammam (bath-house) is also
evidence for the high status of the castle. The
gate complex itself is a winding road cut in the
rock, which forces a visitor to turn thrice, at
all times towards the defenders. Moreover, the
gateway was partitioned with three gates – an
outer one, an intermediate and an inner gate;
some of them have inscriptions in Arabic. The
10/08/15 12:57

entrance into the gate complex was hollowed
out in the rock, so the way through the outer
gate resembles a deep cave – which probably
explains the name al-Kahf (Castle of the Cave).
The intermediate gate is protected with a rec-
tangular tower. The castle is rather small (about
300m by 50m). Its territory is overgrown with
trees, and only foundations are left from the
buildings. Seven cisterns for water survive in
the western part of the castle. Kahf Castle was
the last Assassin residence in Syria. In 1273,
the Sultan Baybars I of the Egyptian Mamluks
destroyed it, and in the Ottoman era the castle
was a prison for high-ranking individuals.
other assassin castles
Ruins of Rusafa Castle (not to be confused with
the famous Byzantine Resafa site) can be seen
on a 60m high cliff about 10km from Masyaf.
Rusafa Castle was built by Rashid al-Din Sinan,
although some fortifications existed there before
the Ismaili. The walls of the castle follow the out-
line of the cliff and comprise many galleries and
rooms. Up to 20m deep storerooms were made
in the rock. The entrance to the castle is on the
northwestern side; a tower protects it.
Ullayqa Castle sits atop a 760m high
crag. The castle walls can be easily followed,
in some places they survive quite well and im-
press the visitor with their power. A strongly
fortified gateway with machicolations is on the
western side, while four spacious storerooms
were made in the eastern part of the castle.
Maniqa Castle – another Assassin castle,
25km northwest of Ullayqa Castle – it changed
hands more than once. Probably built by the
Arabs, it soon passed to the Byzantines. The
Crusaders owned it in the early twelfth cen-
tury, but in 1140 or 1141 the Assassins seized
and later rebuilt it. The Hospitalers then be-
came its owners, but allowed the Nizari Is-
maili to stay there as tenants on the condi-
tion that they paid rent. So, they stayed in the
castle until Baybars I drove them from the Ja-
bal Bahra mounts in 1270–1273. The castle
sits on top of a 300m long ridge and is sur-
rounded with impressive basalt walls. Some
curtains and towers have been preserved in
almost original shape. A ditch cut in the rock
protects the approaches to the castle.
Abu Qubais Castle, known to the Crusad-
ers as Bokabeis Castle, was built by the Arabs
and rebuilt by the Byzantines. The Nizari Is-
maili acquired it, like many other castles, in
the 1130s. The castle picturesquely crowns
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mw_5-4.indd 41
The castle
the top of a mountain. It has a concentric lay-
out: two lines of walls fortified with towers en-
circle the summit of the mount.
Khawabi Castle (meaning ‘Castle of the
Ewes’ in Arabic, although the Crusaders knew
it under the Frankish name Coible) sits on a
cliff rising above a valley surrounded by high
mountains. It was one of the last castles ac-
quired by the Nizari Ismaili; they took it after
Masyaf Castle, sometime in the 1140s. After
1160, its fortifications were rebuilt by Rashid
al-Din Sinan. It were the Assassins who erected
a powerful gate tower and reconstructed many
sections of the walls. The castle was of great
strategic importance to the sect as it protected
northeast approaches to other castles in the
mountains. Bohemond IV of Tripoli, wishing
to avenge the death of his elder son Raymond
The outer gate of Kahf Castle. It
(killed by the Assassins right in the cathedral
was built in 1120. To show his fol-
of Tortosa in 1213), besieged Khawabi Castle
lower’s devotion to him, the head
without success. Lying about 80m above the
of the Assasins made two soldiers
valley, the castle occupies the entire summit
jump from the fortress wall. Nei-
of the cliff (about 350m by 200m). The walls
ther man survived the fall...
are irregular and follow the outline of the lat-
© Konstatin Nossov.
ter. A stone staircase with a steep bend leads
to the gate tower. The gateway inside the gate
tower also has steep bends to make an attack
more difficult. The citadel crowns the very top
of the cliff, inside the outer perimeter of the
walls. Today a village populated by about a Masyaf Castle, founded in the
dozen families occupies the castle. nith or tenth century. Despite the
vulnerable location, it is thought
peculiarities of the assassin castles to have been the headquarters of
Nearly all Nizari Ismaili castles were situated in the ‘ Old man of the Mountain’.
places that were difficult to access. They were © Konstatin Nossov.
medieval warfare V-4 41
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 The castle
(Above) Abu Qubais Castle, this
fortress was known to the Cru-
saders as Bokabeis castle.
© Konstatin Nossov.
(Below) Citadel of Khawabi Cas-
tle. It was one of the last castles
to be acquired by Nizari Ismaili
in the 1140s.
© Konstatin Nossov.
42 medieval warfare V-4
mw_5-4.indd 42
hard to discover or
approach. But then,
the wonderful view
from the castles al-
lowed the defend-
ers to learn of the
enemy’s approach in
good time. The As-
sassins built mainly
so-called spur cas-
tles: so, for example,
castles towering up
from a preferably
vertically sloped
cliff. The slopes
could also be made
steeper artificially,
by escarpment. This
choice was the re-
sult of the sect’s
limited human re-
sources: a castle in a
flat country is much
harder to build
and defend than a
mountain one. The
walls conform to
the outline of a cliff
and, naturally, the
towers were placed
irregularly. In gen-
eral, towers in Assassin mountain castles were
extremely scarce. There was no need for them
though, as the upright slopes of a cliff made
the access to the walls practically impossible.
In Syria, Masyaf Castle was the only exception.
The Nizari Ismaili covered their lands with
a net of castles that were in close contact with
each other. Peter Willey, famous for his research
on Assassin castles, states that the connection
was kept through small forts, watch- and signal-
towers. While studying Assassin castles in Syria,
we saw no forts or watchtowers in the vicinity of
the castles, although they may not survive today.
Assassin castles, with rare exceptions,
cannot boast of their size. And in general,
their castles in Syria are smaller in size than
the ones in Iran. All the castles the Nizari Is-
maili owned were founded first. It is some-
times difficult to find any structural features
characteristic of Assassin building. Some
general conclusions can, however, be made.
The safety of gates was given special at-
tention. As a rule, there was only one entrance,
and it was well protected. The road to the cas-
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tle dodged along the vertical slopes of the cliff
and was easily covered with fire from the castle
walls. Spacious storerooms cut in the rock were
usually made outside the living quarters of the
castle. They contained big stocks of food and
water. The storerooms were often connected
with a net of underground galleries. Water sup-
ply was of paramount importance. It travelled
from nearby sources through pipelines to the
castle. Despite their location on top of moun-
tains, castles enjoyed water in great quantities.
They even had enough water to provide for
baths, whose ruins have been discovered near
some of the castles. In case of a siege, water
was stored in cisterns cut in the rock.
Masonry in many Assassin castles can-
not boast the aesthetic thoroughness of big
Crusader castles, but it was quite firm. Ac-
cording to eyewitnesses, the Mongols had
to work hard to break down the walls of As-
sassin castles that they had captured. Fortu-
nately, the Mongols, who were determined
to keep the Nizari Ismaili from returning to
their lost castles, destroyed only about half of
Assassin castles, most of them in Iran.
Assassin castles were ‘hard nuts’ for the at-
tackers. For months they resisted the besieging
Seljuqs, Mongols, Mamluks and Crusaders. The
Mongol siege of Gerdkuh Castle in Iran lasted
as long as 17 years. For comparison, Crusader
castles, even as formidable as Krak des Chev-
aliers or Marqab, fell in a month or a month
and a half to Mamluk Sultans. The latter fired
stone-throwers and dug underground passages.
Similar tactics turned out to be useless against
Assassin castles – they were unreachable for
stone-throwing machines, and no tunnel could
be dug into their rock foundations. MW
Dr. Konstantin Nossov is regular contributor to
both Ancient Warfare and Medieval Warfare.
further reading
• R. Burns, The Monuments of Syria. A
Guide. London–New York, 2009.
• J. Phillips, ‘Assassin Castles in Syria’,
in: The Connoisseur, No. 770 (1976),
pp. 287–289.
• P. Willey, Eagle’s Nest: Ismaili Cas-
tles in Iran and Syria. London–New
York, 2005.
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