Resurrection of the Assassins

A history professor leaves Africa for a scientific symposium in Yemen, where he finds an opportunity to meet one of the esoteric sheikhs and decipher the meaning of an ancient treasure he discovered in a tomb. The shock of the buried secret is immense: it is the Psalms of the Old Man of the Mountain, the Dweller of the Eagle‘s Nest, Hassan-i Sabbah, along with his writings, teachings, and commandments! Thus, the professor, now a grave-digger, becomes a fugitive. Some seek to burn the ominous treasure, while others pursue him, seeking the legacy of their revered master. He, however, insists on keeping his treasure, seeing in it a national treasure that will unlock dark corners of the history of the most dangerous sect known to the Middle Ages. Thus begins a journey of conflicting emotions: the ecstasy of the discoverer as he deciphers the talismans and symbols of the Psalms, and the terror of the fugitive pursued by the Assassins and the police. It is a novel that delves into the history of a sectarian group, around which tales have been woven, sometimes bordering on myth, particularly those surrounding its founder, Hassan al-Sabbah, holed up in the fortress of Alamut, plotting to spread his doctrine through the power of his eloquence and the zeal of his assassins. The movement ended long ago, but the novel heralds the resurrection of the Assassins, revisits the era of sectarian wars, and, with an artistic eye, immerses itself in a thousand-year history, piecing together the past and present to reveal key reasons for the absence of a renaissance in the East.