The fortress of the Assassins was Alamut. Since the Assassins beliefs were considered heretical, it was always in jeopardy. Some stories of Alamut say that it remained because of its reputation of sending an agent to become a trusted friend or servant of a ruler. They would stay concealed until they received the order to attack. This is illustrated in one story where the Sultan Saladin led an attack on Alamut, and Rashid ad-Din Sinan sneaked into Saladin's tent while he slept and placed a posion cake and a threatening note on his chest. Alamut was finally destroyed by the Monglols in 1256, and was further damaged by an earthquake in 2004. The fortress is about 800 miles from Damascus, which is about the distance of taking the Interstate-5 from the U.S.A.-Mexico border all the way up to the California-Oregon border.
