The Early Nizari Ismailis and their Neighbouring Powers

A new history of the Nizari Ismailis of the 11th and 13th centuries detailing how they came to power.

This history of the Alamut era of the Nizari Ismaili community concentrates on the local politics of the remote mountainous Caspian region of northern Iran. This is where the prominent religious and military leader Hasan-i Sabbah (1050s–1124) famously founded the medieval Nizari Ismaili state in 1090, before it ultimately collapsed at the hands of the Mongols in 1256.
Miklós Sárközy presents here a fresh investigation of this turbulent period through a detailed examination of the contemporary regional Caspian histories. His analysis provides an important contribution to our understanding of the development of the early Nizari Ismailis and their Imams in Iran. The book considers the effects of neighbouring regional powers on the formation and adaptions of the Nizari state whilst it was continuously subjected to the assaults of the Saljuq Turks. The result is a new perspective on how the Nizari Ismailis were able to survive and flourish through difficult times and to establish themselves as a significant polity of the Muslim world.
The Nizaris—also known pejoratively as “the Assassins” in western literature—have attracted considerable interest among both scholars and the general public. This book is a much-needed analysis of a neglected area of their vital history.