Old Man of the Mountain (nickname)

Saint Louis receiving the envoy of the "Old Man of the Mountain" (here referring to a Syrian Nizari leader) in Ptolemais. Painting by Georges Rouget in 1819.

The Old Man of the Mountain (Latin : Vetulus de Montanis), ^[1] is the expression first used by Marco Polo in a passage from Book of the Marvels of the World , to indicate Hasan-i Sabbah, the grand master of the "Order of Assassins" (the Nizari Ismaili state) who was based in the mountain fortress of Alamut. It later became a common name used by the Crusaders. ^[2]

Subsequently, this nickname was given to various Isma'ili successors of Hassan, in Syria, particularly, ^[3] for example Rashid al-Din Sinan, the da'i (missionary) ^[4] and a leader of the Syrian branch of the Nizari Isma'ili state. ^[5]

See also

• List of Ismaili titles

References

1. Mirza 1998.
2. Wasserman 2017.
3. Lewis, p. 196.
4. Oxford Reference 2003.
5. Reston 2001, p. 16.

Bibliography

• Mirza, Naseeh Ahmed (20 July 1998). "Alamut. Bastion of Peace and Information". Alamut. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
• Polo, Marco (1920) [c. 1300]. "Concerning the Old Man of the Mountain"  . In Yule, Henry (ed.). The Travels of Marco Polo  – via Wikisource.
• Wasserman, James (8 August 2017). "A Note to the Reader on the Historical Context". Templar Heresy: A Story of Gnostic Illumination. Destiny Books. ISBN   978-1-62055-658-0.
• Lewis, Bernard. Islam.
• "Rashid al-Din Sinan". Oxford Reference . 2003. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
• Reston, James Jr. (2001). Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade. New York: Doubleday. ISBN   9780385495615.