Town · The Nizari Ismailis of Alamut · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Alamut

Not a town but a fortress on a narrow rock ridge above the village of Gazor Khan in the upper Alamut valley, seized by Hasan-i Sabbah in 483 AH (1090) and the seat of the Nizari state ever since.

The valley below, a long trough between the Alborz and the Alamut range, is farmed by Nizari villagers in irrigated fields and orchards; it is reached from Qazvin over the passes of the Alamut range and from the Caspian by the valleys of Tunakabun. The castle holds the imams' palace, stores and cisterns cut in the rock, and the famous library, with the astronomical instruments that Juvaini found there in 1256.

Who holds it

Name
Nur al-Din Muhammad II
Title
Imam of the Nizaris
Since
561 AH (1166)
Confidence
high

Lord in 1200

The imam Nur al-Din Muhammad II, in person (his residence)

How things stand that morning

The imam's residence and the capital of the Nizari state.

Charter

None in the usual sense: a Nizari town governed for the imam under the regional chief (muhtasham) and the da'is.

Council

The imam's household and officers; village headmen.

Communities

Nizari Ismaili Daylami and Rudbari villagers, the imam's household, da'is, scholars and guests; no Sunni or Jewish community is recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

The garrison and the armed Nizari villagers of the valley.

Walls and castle

A castle walled along the ridge, with rock-cut cisterns and stores; no town wall below.

Trade and crafts

Valley farming (grain, rice lower down, fruit), flocks; the library and the copying of books.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The castle's history is well known; the valley's economy in 1200 is described only in general terms.

Primary sources for Nizaris of Alamut

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
  • The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Benjamin of Tudela (about 1173). A generation before 1200 but the only survey of its kind: the Jewish communities and their heads from Navarre through Provence, Italy, Constantinople and the Aegean, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with notes on rulers, trades, the exilarch at Baghdad, the Assassins of Syria and Persia, and hearsay on India, Ceylon and China. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. F. Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007), ch. 6 (the Nizaris of the Alamut period)
  2. Wikipedia, 'Nur al-Din Muhammad II' (after Juvaini, Rashid al-Din, Daftary, Hodgson)
  3. Juvaini, trans. Boyle, The History of the World-Conqueror (1958)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.