Historical Geography of Alamoot (Alamut) and Roodbar:
Ali Hayati
 From initiationto Islam appearance :
Native men of Alborz mountain range are considered to be the original habitants of Alamoot and Roodbar. Hence, the racial root of this population should be traced in the historical background of races living in Alborz and ultimately in the " Gil " and " Deylam " ethnic group .
" Caspi"s  , " Tapoori "s and " Amard "s lived in thier own land all
These groups had occupied all the mountainous district and southern edge of Caspian sea and their name was demonstrated in the pre-history references.
At the time of Sasanid kingdom and early years of Islam appearance, Deylam had been on its fame peak.
They were introduced as brave and strong people who had never obeyed Iranian rulers and over Centuries after Islam appearance they refused to accept caliph and Iranian kingdom . Their land had never been captured .
No formal inscription from Iranian kingdom and subsequent rulers or statement has been found as the proof of their obedience.
According to the sasanid manuscript and books from the early years of Islam, existence of Alamoot and Roodbar region can be proved by the evidence. The documents demonstrate its reputation in that era.
According to the Islamic primitive historians as well as sasanid, Arsacides and Achaemenid chronologies, not only the natives of these regions did not follow their own time ruler and paid no tax, but also assaulted adjacent Villages and cities in necessary situations.
Historical itinerary of   Deylam demonstrates that they stayed loyal to their ancient behaves and lived in the tribal form until the first century of the recent millennium.
They refused Zoroastrian priest " kriter " and only a small part who lived on the Alborz mountainside found in the region of Roodbar and Alamoot are the evident of Zoroastrian existence in the area.

From Islam to Ismailie:   
Deterioration of sasanid dynasty and Arabs attack led in the fall of jastanid kingdom.
Moslems influence in Iran caused many people to accept Islam consequently new era had initialed in the history of Iran.
Although the major part of Iran had been captured by Arabs, residents of Alborz mounting range resisted seriously their penetration and did not let them  in as well as  refusing acceptance of their religion for almost 250 years.
During the mentioned period they stayed constant on their own religion and customs.

Meantime they used Pahlavi language in minting their coins as well as  in their manuscripts and writings. ( kasravi , 1335, p 2-20 )  
Although  Deylam territory had it is own dependent rulers at the time of sasanid kingdom and even before that time the situation remained the same for 3 centuries after Islam entering Iran.
Furthermore in all the mentioned eras there were powerful and smart kings ruling the land but in the documents from the history their name has been rarely demonstrated.
In another word, two centuries of Deylam bravery is under the conceal of ambiguity.
" Jastani " is the first dynasty name presented in the historical documents .Of course no exact evident has been found about their ruling inception but historians introduce Roodbar - Alamoot as their capital point .
In the examinational of the Deylaman events during the first half of the 4th Higrae, it is concluded that the capital of " Roodbar-e-Alamoot " was considered as the capital of " Manazar " - son of Jastan - the son of  - Hosadan who had been Daylam king  .
Manazar even sent troops to help Azdo-dole of Deylam dynasty  .
The capital city of Khosro -shah - the son of Manazar - was in Roodbar-e-Alamoot and his name was demonstrated on the coins minted in 361 and 363 Higrae  in Roodbar   
" Khosro Shah " settled on in Roodbar - e - Alamoot until the late of     4th  century of Higrae and ruled over " Gilan " and " Deylaman " areas .
" Al - jastan " monarchy had been established from 251 in   Roodbar - e - Shahrod located in sharestan district and prolonged until he late of  4th    century . " Jovaini "  introduced " Roodbar " which is on existing part of " Roodbar - e - Alamoot " as the capital of " Deylam " dynasty during pre- Islam period and even after Islam appearance befor " saljoghy " dynasty and described it as thriving city in a very suitable urban condition . ( Jovaini , 1355 , p 268 )
Deylam territory has always been considered as a safe and secure place for refugees who had escaped from the torment of the ruling government to the Deylam nature.
" Alavian " and " zeydian " were of the groups who had ran away .
from the cruelty of Abasi rulers  to the mentioned district. They had lived there in full safety and proceed their political and religious activities , to the extent that Deylam became the center of " shiie " activities .
As a result Deylamian extended their communication with shiie and consequently by the passage of time shiie made some impression on Deylam population and attracted them toward Islam.
Little by little they became familiar with the basis of this religion and accepted it.
Deylam people are regarded as the last group of Iranian who had accepted Islam optionally with no force.
They were of the Iranians who accepted " shiie " Islam contrary to the " Sunnite " which was considered as the formal branch of Islam  . Meanwhile they could show their opposition toward " Abbasi " kingdom in defending their territory by this way.


Ismailie movement in Roodbar and Alamoot:
 
Presence of Ismailie group in Roodbar and Alammot made a big impression in the region and related districts.
Ismailie group succeed to revitalize the dead independence of this land which had been abolished during " saljoghy " dynasty.
" Hasan sabah " is considered to be the founder of " Ismailie  nezari " in Iran and one of the most famous characters of the area.

Roodbar and Alamoot at the age of " Ismailie " :
In the second half of the 5th  century of Higrae, the power of                                   " AL-e-booye " deteriorated and  " saljoghy" brought an end to their dynasty . Next to the saljoghy ruling initiation Deylam became under their dominance and Roodbar-e- shahrood was under the rule of " Amir Ghomaj Hajeb sultan " .
This event caused serious woriness among Deylam.
This event incidentally had been in the same time as Ismailie presence in the region of Roodbar-e-Shahrood .
" Hasan -e-sabah " the founder of " Ismailie-Nazari " ethnic made use of this chance by settling on in the Alamoot castle in order to spread and extend his convection.
Since he was the follower of  smailie shiie , it made deylam people to be encouraged to accept mentioned ethnic belives .

the first Daii of deylam : "  Hasan Sabah "
Hasan the son of Ali, son of Mohammad ,son of Jafar ,son of Hossein, son of Sabah Hamiri , whose father was of the twelve imam shiie in Koffe.
His father moved to Qom and after that settled on in Rey and hassan was born in Ray . ( Jovaini , 1367,p 187 ).   
Similarly to his ancestors he believed in the twelve Imam shiie until the age of 17 .At this age he met “ Amir zarab “ who beloved in Ismaili faith and following that learned explanation and details of Ismaili believes .After that a man named “ Momen “ who had the permeation of calling people to esmaili asked him to swear allegiance , consequently Hassan became officially a member of Ismaili ethnic .
It can be concluded from his life and campaign against the mental and political dominance of Arabs and “ saljoogy Turks “ that Hasan was nationalist and against foreigners . He made benefit of his rebellion to fight aliens and defending Iranian independence and identity . He accepted “ Ismaili Nazari “ ethnic convections and made his way through his acceptance.
About the way Hasan Sabah enterd saljooghy government , there exists multitude stories . The first one which more likely seems like a legend is about his partnership with “ Nezamolmolk “ and “ khayam “ in the same class which is known to be far from the reality  .
The second one is about his entering in the administrative system of Saljoghy governor by the Saljoghyand considered as the instructor of Hasan for a period of time.
Hassan tried to exceed Nezamolmolk in case of being administer and reinforce his position in the Saljooghy government.
In this competition “ nezamolmolk “ the administrator of malek Shah caused Hasan to be driven away from the Saljooghy government.
By the time Hasan felt the likely threat of  nezamolmolk , he decided to move to Mesr to keep safe and reach his aim .
Hasan was on trip for a years after he had been back from Mesr until the time he settled on in Alamoot .
During the mentioned period , not only he invited people to accept the notions of “ Ismailie nazari “ but also was seeking to find a suitable place to carry out his plans .
Ultimately, his attention turned toward to the north of
Iran in Alborz  mountain , to a territory named Deylam which was separated not only geographically from the other parts of Iran but also contained population with the independence desire .
The land that won reputation for not being captured Since long a go as wall as its peoples bravery . He made his major effort to attract people who had the shiie background on one side and lost their land independence by the force of Saljoghy on the other hand .
This was considered as a suitable change for this population to revitalize their lost independence .As a result they immediately got influenced by the Ismailie propagation.
The condition seemed to be appropriate to focus on this land and finally he managed to find a proper location on the rocks for settling which was regarded as the Alamoot castle  .
Another major characteristic for the mentioned land was it is being unavailable and far away for the Saljoghy , hence he became inaccessible for his enemies .
For more information and safety , he reached to Deylaman and next to Andej via Eshkavar .
He had lived there for a while During this time he succeed to attract people for his excessive worship and belief in god . Meanwhile his 'Daii"s handled to make their way through Alamoot castle .
During the mentioned time “ Alamoot castle “ was in the hand of        “ Mehdi Alavi Hasani “ who was considered as the governor of the castle by the order of Saljoghy king .
His 'Daii" made the context ready for his entrance to the castle and Hasan entered the castle in a hidden situation  on the 6th of Rajab in 483 Higrae.
By the time “ Mehdi Alavi “ be came aware of this event it was too late to do anything . Even the castle guard had accepted the Ismailie . Hasan bought the castle for 3000 Dynar which was the common currency of that time ( 1000 Dynar  according to Gozide   Tarikh ) from Mehdi Alavi and captured it with no  bleeding ( Jovaini 1355 , p 194 , 195 )
After conquering the castle , Hasan founded and manifested "Ismailie Nazari "government and send representatives to various points .
He took action to conquer the rest parts connected to Alamoot namely Roodbar which was close to the capital .
He captured every castle he desired and established castles .
Hasan Sabah made a lot of effort to reinforce and extend his government.
One of his most major trends in this way was the plot of demolishing the enemies without using the military force . Fadai in Ismailie were those brave and courage men that undertook these responsibilities by holding firm believes . They usually devoted and sacrificed their life to array out these expeditions .
Threatening and murder of the governors deteriorated the authority of the government and not only put the enemies in thrill but also demonstrated the influence and power of the Ismailie group .
Nezamolmolk was the first one to be killed for his disagreement with Ismailie and tempting Malekshsh to fight with the mentioned group .He got killed  on the 12th of Ramadan by Abootaher-e- avani - the first Fadai- in Nahavand which is located in Kermanshah while he was accompanying malekshah in his trip to Baghdad. Abootaher himself got kiiled by the royal guard . ( Hamedani ,1337,P18 )
"Hasan sabah" got sick in the early of 518  Higrae
He felt he was coming to the end of his life consequently he opted "Bozorg omid_e_ Roodbari" as the Daii of Deylam and the principal of the "Ismailie Nazari" society . Meanwhile he selected 3 of the Nazari great men as the counselor assistants of "Bozorg _omid" . "Hasan " passed away in the late of "Rabi_o_ Alsani" in 512 at the time of "Sanjar" Kingdom in the Alamoot castle .
After his death , "Bozorg omid" who was regarded as the second Deylam Daii got the leadership of the Ismailie government in his hand and died in 532.
Subsequent to the second Daii his oldest son namely "Mohammad" became his fathers successor and ruled until 557.
After the death of "Mohammad" his son "Hasan" who was selected as the leader succeeded his father .
According to the Iranian historians, "Mohammad" became a learned man via excessive probe into the convections of "Hasan Sabah" and the notions of philosophers and mystics as well as his own wisdom and intelligence .
He handled to make a popular position amongst "Nazarian" by making benefit of his influential and attractive characteristic . Yet many people considered him as the leader even before the death of his father and regarded him as the coming "Imam" who had been foretold by "Hasan Sabah" .
The second Hasan who was looking forward to having an opportunity to demonstrate his own beliefs, succeeded his father at the age of 35. Until that time he had been known as the son of "Mohammad" and from the family of "Bozorg omid" 2 years after his becoming a ruler, he decisively addressed doomsday idea to the society of Nazary and introduced himself as the "Imam" of Nazarian.
Later from that time, Nazarian opted a completely ecclesiastical life and abandoned all their materialistic independence so as to make spiritual progression just like sofis.
They called Hasan by the title of "Ali Zekroho Salam" as the first "Imam" of "Ismailie Nazari" .
In 559 "Ismailie Nazari" entered its second era and about a year and a half after the manifesto of the doomsday Hasan (П) (the son of Mohammad) was murdered by his brother in low in "Lambesar" castle on the 6th of "Rabi _ O_ Alval" in 561.
After Hasan (П) , "Nor_e_din Mohammad" the second Imam of Ismailie succeeded his father and next to him was his son "Jalal_e_din Hasan" (Hasan Ш)
Contrary to his father and grandfather Hasan disapproved all their trainings and convections as soon as he became the ruler and introduced himself bound to following the Islam religion in accordance with the son  methodology .
He had sent ambassadors to Naser,_ Abbasi khalifeh "Mohammad_e_Kharazmshah" and kings of other territories and made them aware of his reformations .
After the death of "Jalal _Aldin_Hasan" his son named "Ala_e_din Mohammad" (Mohammad Ш ) the fourth Imam of Ismailie succeeded his father . At the time of his reign deteriorations appeared in the executions of religions rules and doomsday beliefs and notions revived again (Joveini, 1 , 367 , p 249_250)
In the late of "Shavval"653, "Rokno Aldin Khor Shah" the fifth Imam succeeded his father which coincided with the Mongolian attack to Iran and danger to Ismailie power.
On the half of "Shaaban : 654, " "Khorshah" with the companion of a group of some great men comprising "Khaje_Nasireldin Toosi" "Khaje _Asil_e_din Zozani" and his primo minister "Moaye_o_Din" Came down from the castle . He abandoned after a year of rolling and his yielding was considered as the end of "Ismailie Nazari" power. In spite the fact that "Khorshah" abandoned , Mongol Military countered with the resistance of some of  "Fadai"s
   
In the castle they fought Mongol Military for  3 full days until they all got murdered.
Khorshah had sent representatives along with Mongols to the Roodbar castles and 40 castles got demolished but chief commanders of  "Alamoot" and " lamsar " castle did not accept to yield .They thought "Khorshah" had sent this order under constraint finally "Alamoot castle" got surrendered and "Holakoo" himself proceed to lamsar with the companion of a huge and splendid military . Some days later Alamoot guards asked for a grace period of 3 days to exit the castle . On the fourth day Mongol military entered the castle and plundered all of its parts. They put the library under the care of the "Joveini" to check the books before firing it in order to separate the suitable  and good books and set the rest of the books on fire . (Daftari, 137 , p428 _489)
Lamsar didn’t yield even when "Khorshah" tried to mediate and "Holako" military either could not capture the castle. "Lmasar " was surrendered for one year by the Mongols and did not abandon until the time a disease spread and killed a wide group of the fighter . Ultimately they gave up the castle in the late of 655 , but "Gerd Kooh" castle as the last military center of "Nazarian" in Iran withstood for 13 years after the downfall of "Alamoot" until the time they became too needy to clothes and yield on the 29th of "Rabi_o_Sani" in 669.
Mongols respected "Khorshah " until the time he was beneficial  for them and made use of him for making the castles to yield . As soon as Mongols ended capturing and demolishing the castles and handled to bring and end to the Ismailie reign, they killed "Khorshah" and his companions on their way from Mongolia . Moreover they killed "Khorshah" family in Qazvin .(Daftari, 137,p428_489)
After Alamoot downfall and murder of "khorshah" , Ismailies lived in Alamoot, Deylam and "Roodbar" land and continued to their ethnical activities for along time .
They managed to attain Alamoot castle" for a period of time but it should be accepted that their power had deteriorated and there were no condition of resisting for them . Hence their movement did not last for long time and was overthrown very soon.
From that time later, "Ismailie Nazari" converted into small ethnics in Persian territory and later moved to the east of Iran Afghanistan and the place that is no known as the central Asia (previous UN) and gradually declined and disappeared in Roodbar .(Louis , 1362, p260)

Alamoot and Roodbar after the fall of ismailie:
 Despite the fact that Alamoot fell and got destroyed by the order of "Holakoo", but got renovated again. It can be concluded from the evidence that Mongols made use of it as a base center for their power until the year 674. After the death of "Arghoo_Khan", a group of Ismailie accepted the son of "Khorshah" who lived in Azerbaijan as the leader and recaptured the Alamoot castle . This time "Agha_Khan" sent a military and drove Ismailie out of the castle and destroyed it .
Above all it seems that the castle got renovated and restored again and was handed amongst Ismailies, Kiais and Sadat_e_Marashi of Gilan. From 930, in the initial time of shah Tahmasb kingdom (I) until 1006 , the castle was in good condition and was used as the prison .
A great amount of prisoners were taken to that place where they had never gone out of it.
By regarding the evidence, it can be concluded that the land of Alamoot and Roodbar, lived independently and free from the Iran kingdoms from the initiation to Islam domination in Iran . Even from the Islam Entrance until the dynasty of "Saljooghis" it lived separated from the central government and emperors . They were courage, brave people seeking independence from the government of their time /and after that time with the presence of "Ismailie Nazari" they preserved their own independence . Even after Ismailie until 930, the land kept its autonomy under the obedience of  Deylaman and Gilan governors , detached from the kings dynasty . From the year 1006 later on , no evidence exist from "Alamoot castle" . It seems as if the castle started deteriorating from the time it ended to be used as "Safavid" prison and had never been repaired after that time .
No information is in hand about the condition of the castle at the time of  "Afsharie" , "Zandie" and "Qajar" reign.
This legendary castle had housed autonomous seeking people and nowadays just ruins are left .
Ruing which cry out the courage and dignity of the rulers of this land, particularly "Hasan Sabah" and "Ismailies" and portrays the power of Alamoot gods .
The magnitude which attracted many people from all over the world so as to be the witness of the splendor of this magnificent land.