The reign of Sultan Melekshah, during the twenty years of which Hassan Sabah was occupied in laying the foundation of his power,—is one of the most stormy periods of middle oriental history, many ways distinguished by the downfall of old, and the rise of new, dynasties. In Taberistan, Aleppo, and Diarbekr, the races of the Beni Siad, Beni Merdas, and Beni Merwan,[40] disappeared, and in their place, the families of Danishmend-Bawend and Ortok,[41] raised themselves to the thrones of Kum, Taberistan, and Maradin.[42] The Seljukides, who, since the time of their founder, Togrul-beg, had ruled in Iran, spread their branches into Syria,[43] Karman,[44] and Asia Minor;[45] Bagdad, the metropolis of the Abbasside khalifs, was torn with intestine religious wars.[46] The Soonnites and the Shiites, the followers of the Imams, Eshaari and Hanbeli, fought sanguinary combats within the city’s walls.[47] The mint, and prayers from the pulpit, had, indeed, since the death of the Emir Bessassiri,[48] been restored to the name of the family of Abbas; but in both the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, they were continued in the name of the fanatical khalif, Mostanssur, who occupied the throne of Egypt. His Dais, or missionaries, the initiated of the Ismailites, the Apostles of the lodge of Cairo, inundated the whole of Asia, in order to gain proselytes to the cause of infidelity and rebellion. It cannot afford matter of surprise that, in Hassan Sabah, their seed met with a fertile soil. We will relate the beginning of his connexion with them, in his own words, as history preserves them.[49]