Alamut was once a mountain fortress in the arid hills south of the Caspian Sea, near Qazvin, about 100 km from present-day Tehran in Iran. Only ruins remain of this fortress today.

The fortress was built in 840 according to Hamdollah Mostowfi at 2100 m elevation. It was built in a way that had only one possible entrance, thus making conquering the fortress extremely difficult. The fort has an unusual system of water supply.

In 1090 the fortress was invaded and occupied by the powerful Hashshashin (Assassins), and was then fabled for its gardens and libraries. The ruins of 23 other fortresses remain in the vicinity.

Alamut fortress was destroyed on December 15, 1256 by Hulagu Khan as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia. The fortress itself was impregnable, but Ruknuddin Khor-shah surrendered it without a real fight, in the vain hope that Hulagu would be merciful.

In 2004, an earthquake further damaged the already crumbling walls of the fort.

See also: Hashshashin.

Alamut is also a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in 1938 in Slovene, dealing with the story of Hasan ibn Sabbah and the Hashshashin. The novel was only recently published in English translation (in 2004 by Scala House Press in Seattle, USA, ISBN 0972028730), but had already been translated into about 18 other languages including Czech (1946), Serbian (1954), French (1988), Spanish (1989), Italian (1989), German (1992), Turkish, Persian (1995), Arabic, Greek, and Korean. As of 2003 It is being translated into Hebrew and Hungarian.

Alamut also occurs the title of the novel The Alamut Ambush by the British military historian, journalist and crime writer Anthony Price. It is the second title in his series of eighteen novels of crime-espionage, all of which have Dr David Audley as the main protagonist and military history as a major theme or context. The books were published by Gollancz between 1971 and 1989.

References

http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/worlds/worlds_hulagu_khan_68_8_53.html (Retrieved February 23, 2005)