Old Man of the Mountain (Assassin)

The Old Man of the Mountain (Persian: پیر کوهستان (pir koohestan), 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 (hashashin) and founder of assassin's. It later became a common name used by the Crusaders.^[2]

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

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]