Gilgamesh

ALAMŪT

ALAMŪT, a high, isolated valley in the Alborz thirty-five kilometers northeast of Qazvīn; the center of an autonomous Ismaʿili state, the valley was defended by numerous fortresses, one of which bears the same name .


The valley of Alamūt in Daylam comprises the present dehestāns of Alamūt and Rūdbār, which meet in the baḵš of Rūdbār-e Alamūt in the šahrestān of Qazvīn, the center of which is Moʿallem Kalāya. In spite of its fame and allure, Alamūt was rarely visited before the 20th century by western travelers, though many of them mentioned it, including Marco Polo. In 1832 Colonel Monteith reached the region of Rūdbār, and in 1836 J. Shiel, coming from Ṭālaqān, visited the Alamūt valley and the ruins of the fortress; A. Eloy made the same trip the following year. In the 1930s the systematic studies resulting from the visits of L. Lockhart in 1928, F. Stark in 1930, and especially W. Ivanow beginning in 1928 became available. In spite of the relatively systematic but anecdotal archeological survey of P. Willey in 1960, the valley is still not well known except for its role in medieval history.


The powerful river of Alamūt originates on the western slope of Taḵt-e Solaymān (4,850 m); after joining the Rūd-e Ṭālaqān, it forms the Šāh-rūd, which traverses the central and eastern Alborz from east to west. The valleys of Rūdbār and Alamūt lie among the peaks of the Sīāh Lān (4,175 m) range to the north and the Alborz (4,056 m) and Qazvīn mountains to the south. For the most part the two valleys, which extend approximately 100 km, lie at an altitude lower than the 900 to 1,500 m range of the Iranian plateau. Although entirely surrounded by mountains, Alamūt enjoys a mild climate with Caspian influences; hence rice is cultivated, and malaria existed in Rūdbār up to a recent date. Snow remains on the heights for a long period but disappears rapidly in the valley, which receives an annual rainfall of between 300 and 500 mm. Like the neighboring valley of Ṭālaqān, Alamūt is formed of clayey conglomerates dating from the Miocene epoch. It is bordered in the south by mountains composed of volcanic “green rocks” of the Tertiary period, and in the north by high chains of a complex structure where limestones of the primary era predominate. The action of the rivers is strong, and catastrophic floods are frequent, often causing the collapse of roads and the devastation of fields. Although the valley belongs to the Caspian watershed of the Alborz, it conforms bio-climatically to the southern watershed with Artemisia and Astragalus on the steppe-like mountain slopes, hawthorn shrubs (Crataegus aronica) between 1,000 and 2,000 m, and no forest zone. Everywhere there are signs of the predatory activity of man. Three types of landscape are clearly distinguishable: in the upper part the small valleys of the cold high mountain of the dehestān of Alamūt, in the middle the high interior plains and the valleys of Rūdbār, and finally the narrow main valley, especially downstream where inhabitants are few.


Access to Alamūt is difficult because of the narrow gorges and surrounding mountains. The traditional mule trail from the plateau, a two-day trip from Qazvīn, crossed the Čāla pass, which rises above the confluence of the Alamūt and Ṭālaqān rivers. The automobile track constructed around 1960 along this trail has been replaced by a modern road farther west through the Qesṭīnlār pass (2,350 m). Downstream, a road enters the village of Šahrestān and the Rūdbār valley. Since 1973 tracks have gradually opened up most of the villages, which have been linked to Qazvīn by daily buses (fourteen in the dehestān of Alamūt in 1977); access to certain villages remains difficult because of the absence of a road along the river and the lack of bridges.


In 1345 Š./1966 there were slightly more than 40,000 inhabitants in the baḵš of Rūdbār-e Alamūt. The construction of roads has accelerated migrations toward the industrial zone of Tehran-Qazvīn; return visits are made only for summer vacations. Seasonal migrations for work to the Caspian plain were rare in this area. The villages grouped around Moʿallem Kalāya provide numerous commercial items and basic equipment, but they do not constitute a real business center. The other villages of more than 500 inhabitants (a total of fifteen) are almost totally lacking in businesses and services because of the former seclusion that favored self-sufficiency and domestic crafts (bread, clothes, shoes, tools, small carpets, gelīms, etc.). Commercial relations were active with the neighboring valleys to the south (Ṭālaqān, Čālūs, Karaǰ) and the north (Eškavar, Kalār-dašt, the region of Šahsavār). Muleteers, numerous in Alamūt before the opening of the roads, are still found in the more elevated villages, whose inhabitants regularly sell their products, make their purchases, and grind their wheat in the Ṭālaqān valley. Relations with neighboring valleys are facilitated by the similarity of the dialects. Apart from four Turkish-speaking villages higher up, the inhabitants of Alamūt speak Gīlakī and those of Rūdbār Tātī. There are numerous differences of detail, since these dialects all represent various intermediary forms between the Caspian languages and the colloquial Persian of Tehran, which is not well understood by everyone in the area. On the Qazvīn plain, most of the villages are Turkish. The ethnic relationship with the Caspian populations is apparent in certain villages of the valley (Šahrak, Moʿallem Kalāya), where many houses have two stories and covered galleries as in Gīlān. In the mountain villages, the houses are always flat-roofed and laid out in steps, without the inner court and veranda that often characterize the houses of Rūdbār. Throughout the valley roofs of sheet iron are extremely rare. In the dehestān of Rūdbār, many villages (e.g., Dīkīn, Vošta, Garmārūd) are inhabited, at least in part, by a little-known community known as the Marāḡī, who are completely isolated in terms of their mosques, public baths, costume, language, etc.; but who apparently live on good terms with the other inhabitants, whom they call Pašaʾī. The Marāḡī are officially Shiʿite like the other inhabitants of the region, but they seem to have maintained both Zoroastrian and Ismaʿili customs (see Ivanow, Alamut; Varǰāvand, Sarzamīn, pp. 468-73).


Until the agrarian reform, the villages of the valleys were dominated by large land-owners residing in Ṭālaqān, Qazvīn or Tehran; only the villages of shepherds at high altitudes belonged to their inhabitants. Most of the villages are situated on the slopes of the right bank of the valley, exposed to the south and sheltered from floods. The agricultural economy is still dominated by grains. Rice is grown in small plots at the base of the main valley below Šahrak (1,500 m) with water provided by small streams (the main river is difficult to use because of great variations in level). When water is scarce, wheat replaces rice. On the high terraces and the plateaus of the interior basin, wheat and barley are sown without irrigation in a two-year rotation; in alternate years the land is left fallow to be grazed by the communal cows. The large plots are often separated by hedges (talū) and sometimes dotted with hawthorn (zālzālak; Crataegus aronica), whose berries are eaten in autumn. A countryside of worn-out pasture land is especially apparent near Qesṭīnlār and Gāzorḵān. Tilling is done with swing-ploughs pulled by oxen; the sheaves of wheat are transported on the backs of men or donkeys to the threshing-floors located near the villages. Since the process requires a large amount of manual labor, this form of agriculture is gradually being abandoned. The grain is ground and consumed locally or sold to neighboring villages.


In the more elevated villages, the primary crops are vegetables, such as beans and onions, and increasingly fodder, potatoes, sugar beets, and fruit trees, such as hazelnuts and apples. In response to the expanding urban market for fruits, orchards are being planted in the valleys with a southern exposure (Eskīrīn, Hīr, Zavār-dašt). In general, Rūdbār and especially Alamūt are poor agriculturally, since they suffer from lack of water. The population lives primarily on bread, dried fruit, and milk products; rice is still a rare food.


Sheep raising (50 to 60,000 head) is a traditional occupation that fares better than agriculture. In the dehestān of Alamūt, the shepherds guard the animals in summer in high enclosures often at a distance of a four-hour march. In winter the herd is fed in the village with forage collected on the mountains and brought down by hand. In spring, and sometimes in autumn, many of the sheep are brought down to graze in the fallow fields of the Rūdbār river and Qazvīn plain. The shepherds of Alamūt are often hired by neighboring valleys (Ṭālaqān, Karaǰ, Nūr). Cattle play an important role in the grain producing villages of Rūdbār. The herd is kept collectively, guarded by a hired hand or the proprietors in turn. In summer, cows are kept near the village while calves and oxen are left unguarded in the high mountains; they are only brought down to the village to work at the threshing and to feed on the stubble fields.


A decline in both animal husbandry and agriculture is gradually being compensated for by the introduction of new crafts, such as the weaving of Qom and Nāʾīn carpets under contract, and the revival of traditional crafts, such as the weaving of local carpets and gelīms, which find a good market among the increasingly numerous tourists who come to visit the “castles of the Assassins
By encyclopedia of Iranica