ASS 



Arfacidr, the fonndns of the Parthian empiif. To a cor- 

 ruption of Arfacidtc into Adairiiis fomt- have afcrihtd the 

 etymology of the appellation by which they were dilliiigiii- 

 (licd ; whilft others fiippofc it to have been formed from 

 iliijfifins, in lefcrence to the poniard, which was their -cuf- 

 tomary weapon. It is faid that they were a fed of _Maho- 

 metans, who arofe in the year 891, when Catmnt, or Karmat, 

 a pretended prophet in Arabia, drew after jiim many follow- 

 ers. He faded, and laboured with his hands, and prayed 

 fifty times a day. He promifed to re-eftabli(h the family of 

 Ali, and to dethrone the caliphs. He rc'leafed hi;; difcipks 

 from the molt troublefome obfervances of their rehgion, 

 permitting them to drink wine and to eat any kind of tood. 

 By this indulgence, joined to the hopes of plunder, he col- 

 kcled a great army, and ravaged the dominions of the ca- 

 liph. This Carmat had a feries of fuccelTors, of whom the 

 moil famous wai Abu-Thaher or Abudhaiier. Thcfe 

 Carmatians, or Karmathians, being enfeebled, kept their 

 religion concealed, mixed themfelvfis with the Mahometans, 

 and were difperfed over various parts of the call. About the 

 year logo, they were fettled iu Perfia ; where Haccn, or 

 Al-Hafan their chief, receiving a threatening meffage from 

 the fultan, commanded one of his fubjefts, in the prefence 

 of the meffcnger, to fling himfelf from the top of a tower, 

 and another to kill himfelf, which they inllantly performed. 

 Upon which Hacen faid to the metFenger, " Tell your 

 matter that I have 70,000 men ready to do as much." In 

 Perfia and Svria, ihev were denominated IJmadians ; and 

 among the hills to the fouth of the Cal'pian, thcfe odious 

 fectaries maintained their power for nearly two centuries, 

 Tiieir prince, or Imam, eftabliflied his lieutenant to lead and 

 govern the colony of mount Libanus, fo famous and fo for- 

 midable in the hillory of the crufades. They had acquired 

 or founded ten calllesin the hills above Tortofa, and pofTefT- 

 ed fevcral cities about Tyre. As thefe enthuliafts had pof- 

 fcflTed themfelves of the beft part of Al Jebal, in the Perfian 

 Irsk, under the condudl of Al Hafan Ebn Ma(bali, or Al 

 plafan Sabah, as he is fometimes called, the commencement 

 of the dynafty of the Ifmaelian princes is generally placed 

 at this period, or the year of the Hegira 483, A. D. 1090. 

 The ftyle or title adopted by thcfe princes was " Sheikh Al 

 Jebal," that is, the prince of Al Jebal ; or " the chief of the 

 mountainous country ;" the province of Al Jebal being 

 fuch a country, and from this circumftance deriving its 

 modern name, " Kuhettan orChufiftan :" the words "Sheikh 

 al Jebal" may likewifc be properly rendered " the fenior, or 

 old man of the mountain," and hence the chief or prince of 

 the AflafTms has obtained the appellation of " the old man 

 of the mountain," amongtt the writers of thehidory of the 

 Holy Wars. Al Hafan Ebn Mafbah and his dcfccndants 

 reigned in Al Jebal 171 years, till the whole race of them 

 was deftroyed by the Tartar Hulaku, or Hola^-^ou Khan, 

 the grandfon of Zingis, or Jenghis Khan, who abolidied the 

 caliphat bytheredudion of Bagdad, in the year of the Hegira 

 656, A.D. 1258. Gibbon fays that the Ifmaelians of 

 Syria were extiipated by theMamalukes about the year 1 280. 

 Not a vcilige is left of thefe enemies of mankind, whofe 

 daggers have been felt both in the e;'.(l and the weft, except 

 the term ajjafjin, which, in the moll odious fenfe, has been 

 adopted in the languages of Europe. With the fanaticifm 

 of the Koran, the Ifmaelians had blended the Indian tranf- 

 migration, and the vifions of their own prophets ; and it 

 was their firil duty to devote their fouls and bodies in blind 

 obedience to the vicar of God. Such was the afcendant 

 which their prince had acquired over his deluded and fana- 

 tical fubjecls, that they paid the moft implicit deference to 

 hij commands ; cllecmed aflaffination meritorious, when 



A S S 



fandified by his mandate ; courted danger, and even certain 

 death, in the execution of his orders ; and fancied, that 

 when they facriiiced their lives tor his fake, the highelt joys 

 of paradife were the infallible reward of their devoted obe- 

 dience. It was the cuftom of this prince, when he imagined 

 himfelf injured, to difpateh fecrctly fome of his fubjeds 

 againll the aggreffor, to charge them with the execution of 

 his revenge, to inttrud them in every art of difguifing their 

 purpofe ; and no precaution was luHicient to. guard ;.iA 

 man, however powerful, againft the attempts of thefe fuble 

 aiid determined ruffians. The greateft monarchs ilood in 

 awe of this prince of the affaflins ; and in 1 192, Conradc, 

 marquis of Montferrat, a zealous crufader, fell a facriike to 

 his refentinent. The prince determined to avenge the death 

 of fome of his people who had been murdered by the inha- 

 bitants of Tyre, then under the government of this noble- 

 man, employed two of his fubjeds for the execution of ids 

 purpoft. Thofe men infiiiuated themfelves in difguife 

 among Conrade's guards, and openly, in the ftreets of 

 Sidou, wounded him mortally ; and when they were feized 

 and put to the moll cruel tortures, they triumphed amidll 

 their agonies, and rejoiced that tiiey had been dcllined by 

 heaven to fuffer in a caule fo jull and meritorious. The 

 prince of the Ailaffins himfelf avowed the adion in a formal 

 narrative which he fent to Europe. In 1173, a prince of 

 the Afl'affins in Phoenicia, fent a deputy to the king of 

 Jerufalem, declaring himfelf and his people inclined to re- 

 ceive the Chiiilian religion ; but the knights templars aflaf- 

 finated the deputy on his return home, and the king was 

 unable to chaitlfe orreftrain them. In 1213, Louis of Ba- 

 varia was murdered by the Anallins. The favourers of thefe 

 AlTanins were condemned by the council of Lyons, under 

 Innocent IV. in 1 23 1. Hume's Hift. vol. ii. p. 18. Gib- 

 bon's Hill. vol. xi. p. 417. Jortin's Rem. on Eccl. Hift. 

 vol.v. p. 237. Mod. Un. Hift. vol. iii. p. 60. 



Assassins, a denomination which diflinguifhcd a 

 fadion that fprung from the fcilowers of Judas of Galilee, 

 in the Jewith war tiiat preceded and fucceeded the dcftruc- 

 tion of Jerufalem. The head of this fadion was Elea/.ar, 

 the grandlon of Judas the Gaulonite. For their fate at the 

 fiege of Maffada, which terminated the Jewifh war, fee 

 Massada. Of thofe who had previoully efcapcd, fome 

 fled to Alexandria, where they were at firll kindly received 

 by their brethren ; but as they excited fedition and tumult, 

 they were delivered up to the Romans, and 600 of them 

 put to death. An order was alfo iffued for (hutting up the 

 Jewifli temple at Alexandria, and the worftiip of it was dif- 

 continued. Sec Gaulonites, and Zealots. 



Assassin, in Law, a peifoa who kills another with the 

 advantage either of an inequality in the weapons, or by 

 means of the fituation of the place, or by attacking him at 

 unawares. For the etymology of the term, fee the pre- 

 ceding article. 



There was a certain law of nations, an opinion received 

 in all the republics of Greece and Italy, whereby he that 

 afTafTinated an ufurper of the fuprcme power, was declared 

 a virtuous man. At Rome, efpecially after the expulfion 

 of the kings, the law was formal and folemn, and inftances 

 of it admitted. The commonwealth armed the hand of any 

 citizen, and created him magiftrate for that moment. Confid. 

 fur les Cauf. de la Grand, dcs Rom. chap. xi. p. 121. 



Assassins' Bai, in Geography, hes on the fouth-eaft, 

 coaft of New Zealand, in the fouth Pacific ocean. 



ASSATION, formed of the Latin ajfare, to roqfl, tlie 

 preparing or dreffing foods, or medicaments, in their own 

 juices, by an external heat, without addition of any foreign 

 moillure, Aflation, in rcfpcd of culinaiy matters, is more 



frequently 



