Ancient and medieval methods of assassination

[morgoth2005]

Poison, by far the best method, and probably the most used.

 

[rejenorst]

The hash legend is apparently just that-- a legend. In the West, I hear that it comes from Marco Polo's somewhat infamously fanciful accounts of the mysterious Orient, which in turn came from lies and libels told by people who were not exactly unbiased when talking about a bunch of heretical bandits.

Yep. I found this rather an interesting read:

Myth : The word assassin is derived from the word hashish.

It is a common myth that the word assassin comes from the Arabic word haschishin for hashish user.

The story is that al-Hassan ibn-al-Sabbah used hashish to enlist the aid of young men into his private army known as assassins (aschishin - or follower of Hassan). One of the primary sources for this information comes from the writings of Marco Polo who visited the area in 1273, almost 150 years after the reign of Al-Hassan.

There are many conflicting facts and sources for this information.

In the early 11th century, al-Hassan became the head of the Persian sect of the Ismailians, a rather obscure party of fanatics which gained local power under his guidance. In 1090, al-Hassan and his followers seized the castle of Alamut, in the province of Rudbar, which lies in the mountainous region south of the Caspian Sea. It was from this mountain home that he obtained evil celebrity among the Crusaders as "the old man of the mountains", and spread terror through the Mohammedan world.[1]

In the account given by Marco Polo in "The Adventures [or Travels] of Marco Polo" it is told that "The Old Man kept at his court such boys of twelve years old as seemed to him destined to become courageous men. When the Old Man sent them into the garden in groups of four, ten or twenty, he gave them hashish to drink. They slept for three days, then they were carried sleeping into the garden where he had them awakened.

"When these young men woke, and found themselves in the garden with all these marvelous things, they truly believed themselves to be in paradise. And these damsels were always with them in songs and great entertainments; they; received everything they asked for, so that they would never have left that garden of their own will."

When the Old Man wished to kill someone, he would take a young man and tell him they could return to Paradise if they entered his service and followed his instructions or died in his service.

From this account it is farily clear that hashish was not the substance used. First, hashish is seldom prepared in a liquid form Hassan would drug young men with a substance which "cast them into a deep sleep" from which they could not be awakened. They were then carried to a beautiful secret garden which was impenetrable and unseen by any but those intended to be his haschishin. When they awoke in the garden, surrounded by beautiful naked women and boys, they were told that they were in Paradise. After a few hours of bliss, they were again made unconscious with the unknown substance. Awakening back in the presence of "The Old Man of the Mountain" they were told that he had given them this glimpse of Paradise and that they would go to Paradise if they entered his service and followed his instructions or died in his service. Thus, he recruited an army of assassins who were the first terrorist gang.

It is from this story that the connection between the words assassin and hashish is drawn. It is said that the word assassin comes from the Arabic word haschishin for hashish user. But Hassan and his followers didn't speak Arabic; they were Persians. Assassin comes from Hassassin -- a follower of Hassan.

Hassan, in fact, was a hashish prohibitionist. He argued that the Koran's ban on alcohol was a ban on all intoxicants, so his assassins were drug free terrorists. Except in the false Paradise where they were served wine as one of the joys of heaven. So, it is desire for alcohol not hashish that helped motivate the Assassins.

 

[Æsir]

True true. Of couse if you what to look into methods of assassination look at the middle eastern assassins. As already stated this is were it all started. I have read several differnet items on assassins and the have many different ways of killing depending on many different things. The Assassins were a very diverse group and had ,I'm sure, many different methods.

 

[DarthLlama226]

2- the "illness" was an extreme loss of blood  due to a stab into the rectum which was done by shinobi who was hiding under his toilet chamber.

The anal stab thing was about the death of Uesugi Kenshin, not Shingen. Of course, the same source also states the theory of Kenshin being a female, so the information is suspect IMO.

 

[Kage]

The anal stab thing was about the death of Uesugi Kenshin, not Shingen. Of course, the same source also states the theory of Kenshin being a female, so the information is suspect IMO.

whoops sorry the warlords mixed up, it happens you know

@nijis: The Japanese legend of Prince Yamato is often considered the first ninja story, although Yamato did not adopt the black costume or stealthy tactics so often associated with ninja. Instead, he used deception, dressing as a woman to attract two barbarian chieftains. When the chieftains had been lulled into a false sense of security, Yamato drew a hidden sword and killed them both. I think that's the kind of Assassination you were curious about.

 

[Daimyo]

The anal stab thing was about the death of Uesugi Kenshin, not Shingen. Of course, the same source also states the theory of Kenshin being a female, so the information is suspect IMO.

This surely is a ****ty thrust. Also called "blade-in-a-turd".

 

[nijis]

Thanks for all the answers. Basically, I was looking for any evidence of the classic RPG assassin, a "professional" skilled in using stealth to strike a protected target and getting away. So far, all documented (as opposed to rumored) assassinations of well-protected targets seem to have been carried out either by...

1) Highly-motivated killers who ran a very high chance of dying in the attempt. The Hashashiyin are the only example of a group which could institutionalize this, as far as I can tell
2) Members of the target's family, retinue, or guard, who were successful because they were to some degree trusted by the target
3) A group that was able to find the target alone or poorly guarded, and defeat the target by naked force

Although it's difficult to prove a negative, and in particular a negative that one would expect to keep secret, I would suggest that RPG-style skilled professional assassins, who could approach a well-protected target and survive long enough to pass on their skills to another, were either very rare or non-existent in the medieval world.

 

[Cirdan]

I would suggest you're looking in the wrong place. Consider the modern world: how many assassinations of high-profile, high-level government officials can you think of, and in what circumstances did they take place? Actual assassinations may have been less rare in the ancient and medieval worlds, but not by much. Now, what about criminal assassinations, in civil society; would you not agree that a mafia hitman would be far closer to the "RPG assassin" you're looking for, than the people who killed Mohandas K. Gandhi, Anna Lindh, Indira Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, etc? Thus, I would suggest that, if there was such a thing as your "RPG Assassin", you would find it in the spheres of business and crime, rather than that of stae politics.

 

[SharpFish]

Did any assasin use bow or crossbow like a sniper? I've never heard of such but might've happened.

I'm sure there was at least one case, mentioned by Gregory of Tours, when a crossbow sniper fired at a bishop I think, as he was entering a town, but missed.