Alamut (Bartol novel)

Alamut
Cover of the English translation of the novel.
AuthorVladimir Bartol
Original titleAlamut
TranslatorMichael Biggins
LanguageSlovene
GenreHistorical fiction
PublisherScala House Press
Publication date
1938
Publication placeKingdom of Yugoslavia
Published in English
2004
Media typePrint
ISBN0-9720287-3-0
OCLC55518032
891.8/435 22
LC ClassPG1918.B33 A7813 2004

Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in 1938 in Slovenian, dealing with the story of Hassan-i Sabbah and the Hashshashin, and named after their Alamut fortress. The maxim of the novel is "Nothing is an absolute reality; all is permitted". This book was one of the inspirations for the video game series Assassin's Creed.

Bartol first started to conceive the novel in the early 1930s, when he lived in Paris. In the French capital, he met with the Slovene literary critic Josip Vidmar, who introduced him to the story of Hassan-i Sabbah. A further stimulation for the novel came from the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia perpetrated by Croatian and Bulgarian radical nationalists, on the alleged commission of the Italian fascist government. When it was originally published, the novel was sarcastically dedicated to Benito Mussolini.