Old Man of the Mountain (nickname)

Saint Louis receiving the envoy of the Old Man of the Mountain in Ptolemais. Painting by Georges Rouget in 1819.

The Old Man of the Mountain Latin : Vetulus de Montanis), ^[1] is the expression used by Marco Polo in a passage from Book of the Marvels of the World , to indicate Hassan-i- sabbah, the grand master of the Order of Assassins which was based in Alamut Castle. 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.