Ismā'iliyah Castles in Arrajān State: An Archaeological Research

Neyshabur, IranThe Ismā'iliyah is one of the most important sects of Shīʿite in the early and middle centuries of Islam, and despite the written historical sources indicating their presence in Arrajān State in the southwest of Iran, their castles and fortifications in this area, especially in the mountainous area to the north and east of it, has not been investigated and studied archaeologically so far. The most important goal of this article is the archaeological investigation and study of the castles attributed to them in this area. Therefore, this article seeks to answer that to what extent the number of castles attributed to this political-religious movement is consistent with the historical texts? The method of gathering the data of the article is based on library sources and archaeological survey of the studied castles and also has a descriptive-historical research method with a cultural history approach. The results of the following article show that due to the strategic geographical location and the economic importance of the Arrajān state for Ismā'iliyah, they entered the Arrajan state from the beginning of the fifth century AH. According to historical texts and comparison with archeological evidence, there have been more than four strong forts of the Ismā'iliyah bases that indicates the presence of followers of this sect in Arrajān region and their political and military activities in this region, especially during the Seljuk period