It is interesting and meaningful that Marco Polo, who generally praises and respectfully commemorates the Mongols who swept the world and terrorized the whole East, despise and denigrate most of the communities other than Christians, and depicted them from a point of view far from reality.
The famous traveler, with obvious ignorance or diversion, took the legend about the Nizari branch in Syria and set it up for the Iranian Nizaris in Alamut Fortress. The prevalence of the term “assassin” and the legend about the Ismailis in Europe was also due to the influence of Polo’s travel book.
Polo vividly describes the secret garden in Alamut Castle, the houris in this false paradise, how the disciples who were drugged with opium and opened their eyes in heaven, were devotedly devoted to the Sheikh and prepared for their deadly mission, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
Where did this story come from?
Marco Polo based this story on the accounts of the Ismailis he encountered. However, in 1273, when the young traveler was in Iran, Alamut Castle was destroyed by the Mongols for 17 years, all the castles and settlements in Iran were destroyed, the Ismailis dispersed all over Iran and entered a period of secrecy. Possibly, Marco Polo adapted the story he had heard about the Syrian Ismailis for the branch where he learned of the sect’s existence in Persia. In doing so, it is evident that he made great use of his imagination and filled his narrative with countless fabrications and gossip.
part of the story
A part of this legendary and malicious transmission that Marco Polo included while talking about the geography and peoples of Iran is as follows: “… The people of this region are also known as Muleheti, that is, people with perverted beliefs. The ruler of this place had a beautiful garden built in a beautiful ravine surrounded by two mountains, in which the most delicious fruits and the most fragrant flowers grew. Several palaces of differing sizes and shapes rose one after the other on the tiers of plains, and these palaces were furnished with gold plated, paintings, and rich silk fabrics. In these structures, there were pools with water gushing like crystals, as well as pools flowing with wine, milk and honey. In the palaces, there were beautiful girls who were trained to sing and could play all kinds of instruments, enchanted with their dances and were ready for all entertainments. They would constantly fill the gardens and palace pavilions with joy and beauty, where they walked around in rich clothes. The watchmen of these girls were hidden inside the palaces and they were forbidden to show themselves. It cannot be said that the ruler built this enchanting garden without any purpose. Muhammad promised that those who follow his rules will be able to taste all the pleasures that can be tasted in Paradise with the houri girls. Sheikh wanted to convince his followers that he was also a prophet and that he had the power to open the gates of heaven to his chosen ones. He had an impassable castle erected at the entrance of the ravine only by a secret way so that no one could enter this fascinating cove without his permission. He had warrior-looking, fearless and impulsive boys between the ages of twelve and twenty in his palace, whom he had chosen from among the natives of the neighboring mountains. Every day he kept telling them about the paradise promised by the prophet and that he had the power to take them to paradise. At certain times he drugged ten or twelve boys and had them transported to various parts of the palace gardens after putting them in a state of death-like sleep. When these boys woke up from their deep sleep, they were blown away by the attractive things they saw. Every boy would find himself surrounded by houri girls who sang, played, and were enchantingly beautiful, from whom one could not take one’s gaze. In addition, the girls offered the most delicious foods and wines until they were overwhelmed by the insatiable abundance of heavenly pleasures and were incapable of separating from these pleasures. After four or five days had passed, they were again put into a deep sleep state and removed from the garden. Then they would ascend to the Sheikh’s floor. When asked where they were, they would reply, “in heaven thanks to your high graces”. They would tell those who listened to them with interest and surprise, about their extraordinary life in front of the Sheikh. The Sheikh then turned to the others and said: “We have made those who serve their masters enter Paradise in accordance with the order of our Prophet. If you obey my laws and obey my orders, you will also be blessed with such happiness.” Young people who were under the influence of his words considered it happiness to take orders from their master and die for him. If the king of a neighboring country angered this sheikh, he would be killed by the murderers whose minds the ruler had trained and distracted. He had two other men, one in Damascus and the other in Kordestan, and followed in his footsteps. These too, as he had shown, trained the youth to carry out every commandment. There was no ruler left strong enough to anger the old Mountaineer and kill him secretly. His country remained within the empire of Hulagu, the brother of the Great-Kağan. When Hulâgu learned of the dirty work of this ruler, he sent an army in 1262 to besiege Kocamış Dağlı in his palace. However, Kocamış Dağlı’s castle turned out to be so strong that it lasted for three years. He was eventually forced to abandon the resistance due to starvation, and was immediately executed when he was captured. Their palaces and those beautiful gardens of Eden were razed to the ground.”
Other sources also deny
Bernard Lewis, who spent a very important part of his academic career with Nizari studies, as well as researchers such as Vladimir Ivanov, Henry Corbin, Marshall Hodgson, rejected this myth and tried to show the mistakes of Marco Polo.
It is interesting and meaningful that Marco Polo, who generally praises and respectfully commemorates the Mongols who swept the world and terrorized the whole East, despise and denigrate most of the communities other than Christians, and depicted them from a point of view far from reality.
Christopher Columbus, who read this book with great interest and took notes, and whose aim was to reach the countries Marco Polo mentioned when his ships turned their noses to the west in 1492, would not be content with just belittle and vilify the local people wherever he went.
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