Sunday, September 12, 2010

Eagle's Nest: The Fortress of Alamut


The Justanid dynasty of Daylam was founded in 189/805, and one of its rulers, called Wahsudan bin Marzuban (d. 251/865) is reported to have built the fortress of Alamut in 246/860. 

The tradition in this context has it that once the ruler, while on hunting had followed a manned eagle which alighted on the rock. The king saw the strategic value of the location and built a fort on the top of a high piercing rock and was named aluh amut, which in the Daylami dialect, derived from aluh (eagle) and amut (nest), i.e., "eagle's nest" as the eagle, instead of following the birds, had built its nest on that location. 

According to "Sar Guzasht-i Sayyidna", the term "Alamut" is aluh amut i.e., the eagle's nest, and an eagle had its nest there. 

Ibn Athir (d. 630/1234) relates another tradition in his "al-Kamil fil Tarikh" (Beirut, 1975, 10th vol., p. 110) that the eagle had taught and guided the king to this location, therefore, it was named ta'lim al 'aqaab (the teaching or guidance of an eagle), whose rendering into Daylami dialect is aluh amut.  The word aluh means "eagle" and amutis derived from amukhat means "teaching". ...


Eagle's Nest


Magnificent castles and fortresses in remote, mountainous regions were built for refuge and defensive purposes by the Ismaili Muslims of Iran and Syria fleeing from persecution during the early middle ages. Often superior in construction to those built by the Crusaders, these castles withstood numerous offensives for over two centuries until the middle of the thirteenth century when most were captured and demolished by the Mongols.

Peter Willey describes the discoveries he made during the course of more than 20 expeditions to these Ismaili sites spanning the past forty years. The book is illustrated with photographs, maps and plans. As well as being a piece of original scholarship, it is also a readable personal account of the challenges encountered in expeditions to remote, inaccessible and often hazardous locations.

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