The foundations of this famed fortress were laid in 860, and the castle, enormously strong through its works and position, was richly provisioned. This was the true head and capital of that kingdom of murder. Connected with the castle were great apartments cut into the rock, for storage of provisions both solid and liquid; of the latter there was wine, honey and vinegar. It was said that those stores had been put there one hundred and seventy years earlier, in the days of Hassan Ben Sabah, and were preserved perfectly owing to the cleanliness of the place, and the pure mountain air of that region. The waters of the river Bahir, conducted to the foot of the fortress, filled a moat which inclosed half the stronghold. A Mongol officer of Persian and Mongol militia now received the command to raze Alamut. Much time and great labor were needed to do this. Hulagu then went to Lemsher, but as that fortress would not yield he left Tair Buga with a strong corps to take it, and returned to headquarters where he gave a great feast, eight days in duration. Rokn ud din followed Hulagu to Hamadan whence he sent officers with those of Hulagu to Syria to order the commandants of Ismailian castles in that country to surrender to the Mongols. While in Hamadan the late master of Alamut became enamored of a Mongol maiden of low origin. Hulagu gave the girl to him and he married her. Thus far the fallen chief had been useful to the Mongol who had treated him with kindness while commanding him to deliver up strongholds which might have stood the siege for years had the Ismailians resisted. When he had no further use for the man he wished to be rid of him, but he had given such a promise of safety that he did not like to break his word openly. Rokn ud din saved him from embarrassment by expressing a wish to visit the court of Mangu, the Grand Khan. Hulagu beyond doubt suggested this idea very deftly through others. He sent the fallen chief with nine attendants of his own people under an escort of Mongols (1257). When Rokn ud din reached the Mongol court Mangu would not see him, and said that the authorities in Persia should not have permitted the journey, which wearied post horses for nothing. Rokn ud din turned homeward, but when near the mountain Tungat, the escort cut him down with his attendants. According to Rashid, Mangu had him killed on the way to Mongolia, not while returning. Since the Grand Khan had given orders to exterminate the Ismailians, Rokn ud din’s subjects had been distributed among Mongol legions. When the Assassin chief had set out on this journey, which was ignominious and doleful, command was given Mongol officers to slay the Assassins, and spare no man, woman or child; hence all were massacred. Infants at the breast were not spared any more than their mothers. Not a child or a relative of Rokn ud din was left living.