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Musyaf Assassin's castle
Syria Pictures

the Assassin's castle, Syria

Musyaf town and the Assassin's castle.

Another day trip possibility from Hama is to Musyaf castle, a less-than-spectacular building built about 1100 AD but with interesting stories attached, particularly concerning a secret deal made between the Assassins and Saladin.
The Assassins were actually an off-the-wall Muslim sect called the Ismaelis who were reputed to have used hashish - aka Cannabis resin - as part of their religious rites, thus becoming originally Hashashin or people who use hashish. The Ismaelis used murder as a political tool and were very practiced in the art, making a couple of attempts to kill Saladin before he reputedly made a covert deal with them.

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