Le mythe des Assassins, une métaphore politique : de Richard Coeur de Lion à Ben Laden

Abstract

The Assassin myth goes back to a medieval Muslim sect committing politico-religious murders. The story has been backed by many fantasies, especially linked to the Old Man of the Mountain, the leader of the sect, who would intoxicate his followers with hashish in an artificial paradise. I will focus on a lesser-known aspect of this story: the ways in which writers like Germaine de Staël, André Malraux or Amin Maalouf mobilize this fable in their work to point to real political movements and personalities. How to explain the malleability of this myth used for its rhetorical power for political purposes? 

Keywords: Assassins, politics, orientalism, myth, Islam.