Author | Vladimir Bartol |
---|---|
Original title | Alamut |
Translator | Michael Biggins |
Language | Slovene |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Publisher | Scala House Press |
Publication date | 1938 |
Publication place | Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
Published in English | 2004 |
Media type | |
ISBN | 0-9720287-3-0 |
OCLC | 55518032 |
891.8/435 22 | |
LC Class | PG1918.B33 A7813 2004 |
Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in 1938 in Slovenian, dealing with the story of Hassan-i Sabbah and the Hashshashin, and named after their Alamut fortress. The maxim of the novel is "Nothing is an absolute reality; all is permitted". This book was one of the inspirations for the video game series Assassin's Creed .
Bartol first started to conceive the novel in the early 1930s, when he lived in Paris. In the French capital, he met with the Slovene literary critic Josip Vidmar, who introduced him to the story of Hassan-i Sabbah. A further stimulation for the novel came from the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia perpetrated by Croatian and Bulgarian radical nationalists, on the alleged commission of the Italian fascist government. When it was originally published, the novel was sarcastically dedicated to Benito Mussolini.
The novel is set in the 11th century at the fortress of Alamut, which was seized by the leader of the Ismailis, Hassan-i Sabbah or Sayyiduna (سیدنا, "Our Master"). At the start of the story, he is gathering an army for the purpose of attacking the Seljuk Empire, which has taken over possession of Iran. The story opens from the point of view of Halima who was purchased by Hassan to become a houri. The story commences with the journey of young ibn Tahir, who is, according to his family's wish, intending to join the Alamut garrison. There, he is appointed to the squad of the most valiant soldiers, named the fedai (فدائی). Fedai are expected to obey orders without demur and forfeit their lives if necessary. During their demanding training, they come to be convinced that they shall go to heaven immediately after their death if they die in the line of duty. Meanwhile, Halima joins the other houris in the garden which Hassan has been building, the young girls are educated in various arts by the leader of the houris and confidant to Hassan, Miriam. Hassan managed to achieve such level of obedience by deceiving his soldiers; he gave them drugs (hashish) to numb them and afterwards ordered that they be carried into the gardens behind the fortress—which were made into a simulacrum of heaven, including houris . Therefore, fedayin believe that Allah has given Hassan the power to send anybody to Heaven for a certain period. Moreover, some of the fedayin fall in love with houris, and Hassan unscrupulously uses that to his advantage.
Meanwhile, the Seljuk army besieges Alamut. Some of the soldiers are captured and Hassan decides to demonstrate his power to them. He orders a pair of fedayin (Yusuf and Suleiman) to kill themselves; Suleiman by stabbing himself, Yusuf by jumping off a tower. They gladly fulfill their master's order since they believe that they will soon rejoice with their beloved in heaven. After the siege, Hassan orders ibn Tahir to go and kill the grand vizier of the Seljuk sultan Nizam al-Mulk. Hassan wants to take revenge for al-Mulk's treachery against him long ago. Ibn Tahir stabs the vizier, but, before he passes away, the vizier reveals the truth of Hassan's deceptions to his murderer. Upon hearing of his success, Hassan informs Miriam that Ibn Tahir is likely dead as a result of discovery, Miriam commits suicide from her disillusionment. Halima also commits suicide when she learns she will never be with Suleiman whom she fell in love with. Ibn Tahir decides to return to Alamut and kill Hassan. When ibn Tahir returns, Hassan receives him and also reveals him his true motto: "Nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted". Then, he lets ibn Tahir go, to start a long journey around the world. Another fedai kills the Seljuk Sultan and the Seljuk empire dissolves. The fight for the Seljuk throne begins. Hassan encloses himself in a tower, determined to work until the end of his days. He transfers the power over the Ismaelits to the hands of his faithful dai , military, and religious chiefs.
Some of the contemporaneous literary critics, such as Lino Legiša, have interpreted it as an allegory of the TIGR, an organization formed in order to fight the Fascist Italianization in the former Austrian Littoral. [1] [2] Allegedly, Vladimir Bartol had sympathised with said organisation.
The novel and its plot were the inspiration for the popular Assassin's Creed series of video games. [3] Many elements of the book's plot can be found in the first game, and the phrase from the novel under an alternative translation: "nothing is true; everything is permitted" is the guiding principle of the game's Assassin Brotherhood—who are the descendants of the Ismaili Hashashin.
The novel helped inspire the Assamite clan of the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop game.
Author William S. Burroughs found fascination within the story of Hassan-i-Sabbah and included the motto, "Nothing is true; everything is permitted", and many references to the work in his 1959 post-modern novel, Naked Lunch , and also in his novels The Nova Express and Cities of the Red Night .
Slovenian Avant-garde music group Laibach created a symphonic work based on this novel. The music is composed by Luka Jamnik of Laibach and also by Iranian composers; Nima A.Rowshan and Idin Samimi Mofakham. [4] The piece also features some poems of Omar Khayam and Mahasti Ganjavi. [5]
The novel was published in English in 2004 in a Michael Biggins translation. [6] Earlier it was translated into about 18 other languages including Czech (1946), [7] Serbo-Croatian (1954), French (1988), Spanish (1989), Italian (1989), German (1992), Persian (1995), Arabic, Greek (2001), Korean and Slovak. More recently it has been translated into Hungarian (2005), Finnish (2008), Turkish (2010), Macedonian (2014), Lithuanian (2014), Bulgarian (2017), Portuguese (2019) and Brazilian Portuguese (2022).
Written, in Persian, on the hand on the cover of the Michael Biggins translation are the words: "I Feel Sorry for the Garden No one is thinking about the flowers No one is thinking about the fish No one wants to believe that the garden is dying that the garden's heart has swollen under the sun that the garden is slowly forgetting its green moments ..."
The Order of Assassins or simply the Assassins were a Nizari Isma'ili order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded by Persian commander Hassan-i Sabbah.
Alamut is a mountain fortress at an altitude of 2163 meters at the central Alborz, in the Iranian stanza of Qazvin, about 100 kilometers from Tehran. In 1090 AD, the Alamut Castle, a mountain fortress in present-day Iran, came into the possession of Hassan-i Sabbah, a champion of the Nizari Ismaili cause. Until 1256, Alamut functioned as the headquarters of the Nizari Ismaili state, which included a series of strategic strongholds scattered throughout Persia and Syria, with each stronghold being surrounded by swathes of hostile territory.
Malik-Shah I was the third sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1072 to 1092, under whom the sultanate reached the zenith of its power and influence.
Vladimir Bartol was a writer from the Slovene minority in Italy. He is best known for his 1938 novel Alamut, the most popular work of Slovene literature around the world, which has been translated into numerous languages.
Hasan-i Sabbah, also known as Hasan I of Alamut, was a religious and military leader, founder of the Nizari Ismai'li sect widely known as the Hashshashin or the Order of Assassins, as well as the Nizari Ismaili state, ruling from 1090 to 1124 AD.
Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi, better known by his honorific title of Nizam ul-Mulk, was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising from a low position within the empire, he became the de facto ruler of the empire for 20 years after the assassination of Sultan Alp Arslan in 1072, serving as the archetypal "good vizier". Viewed by many historians as "the most important statesman in Islamic history", the policies implemented by Nizam ul-Mulk remained the basic foundation for administrative state structures in the Muslim world up until the 20th century.
Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mustazhir, better known by his regnal name al-Muqtafi li-Amr Allah, was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 1136 to 1160, succeeding his nephew al-Rashid, who had been forced to abdicate by the Seljuks. The continued disunion and contests between Seljuk Turks afforded al-Muqtafi opportunity of not only maintaining his authority in Baghdad, but also extending it throughout Iraq.
Al-Afdal Shahanshah, born Abu al-Qasim Shahanshah bin Badr al-Jamali, was a vizier of the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt. According to a later biographical encyclopedia, he was surnamed al-Malik al-Afdal, but this is not supported by contemporary sources.
Alamut, is a region in north of Qazvin province, Iran.
Assassin's Creed is a 2007 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Assassin's Creed series. The video game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2007. A Microsoft Windows version titled Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition containing additional content was released in April 2008.
Rashid al-Din Sinan also known as the Old Man of the Mountain, was an Arab Muslim missionary who served as the leader of the Nizari Ismaili state and the Order of Assassins from 1162 until his death in 1193. An adherent of Nizari Ismailism, a branch of Shia Islam, he was a prominent figure during the Crusades.
Abu Mansur Nizar ibn al-Mustansir was a Fatimid prince, and the oldest son of the eighth Fatimid caliph and eighteenth Isma'ili imam, al-Mustansir. When his father died in December 1094, the powerful vizier, al-Afdal Shahanshah, raised Nizar's younger brother al-Musta'li to the throne in Cairo, bypassing the claims of Nizar and other older sons of al-Mustansir. Nizar escaped Cairo, rebelled and seized Alexandria, where he reigned as caliph with the regnal name al-Mustafa li-Din Allah. In late 1095 he was defeated and taken prisoner to Cairo, where he was executed by immurement.
Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥasan III (1187–1221), son of Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad II, was the 25th Nizari Isma'ili Imām. He ruled from 1210 to 1221.
Taj al-Muluk Buri was an Turkoman atabeg of Damascus from 1128 to 1132. He was initially an officer in the army of Duqaq, the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, together with his father Toghtekin. When the latter took power after Duqaq's death, Buri acted as regent and later became atabeg himself. Damascus's Burid dynasty was named for him.
Alamut or Rudbar is a region in Iran including western and eastern parts on the western edge of the Alborz (Elburz) range, between the dry and barren plain of Qazvin in the south and the densely forested slopes of the Mazandaran province in the north. Starting from Qazvin toward Alamut, passing through the first range of hills, curvatures, forms, are significant themes in nature's composition of this area. The famous Ismaili castle of Alamut and numerous others are in this area, which served as the heartland of the state founded by Hassan-i Sabbah.
The Nizari state was a Nizari Isma'ili Shia state founded by Hassan-i Sabbah after he took control of the Alamut Castle in 1090 AD, which marked the beginning of an era of Ismailism known as the "Alamut period". Their people were also known as the Assassins or Hashashins.
By the late 11th century, the Shi'a sub-sect of Ismailism had found many adherents in Persia, although the region was occupied by the Sunni Seljuk Empire. The hostile tendencies of the Abbasid–Seljuk order triggered a revolt by Ismailis in Persia under Hassan-i Sabbah, starting the so-called Alamut Period.
Bahram al-Da'i or Bahram of Astarabad was a 12th-century Persian Nizari Ismaili who was the Chief Da'i and leader of the Assassins in Syria from after 1113 through 1128. Although his attempt to establish a Nizari base in Damascus was unsuccessful, he had an important role in organizing Nizari presence in Northern and Southern Syria.
Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan, or ʿAlī, surnamed Al-Hādī was the 20th Ismaili Nizari Imam. Born in Cairo, he was about 17 years old when his predecessor, Imam al-Mustansir, died, and 20 years old during the assumption of his Imamate in 490 AH/1097 CE. Henceforward, the seat of Ismaili Imamate was transferred from Egypt to Persia owing to the division among the Ismailis, where Hasan bin Sabbah had founded the Nizari Ismaili state.