Masyaf

Masyaf ( '') is a city in northwestern Syria. It is the center of the Masyaf District in the Hama Governorate. As of 2004, Masyaf had a religiously diverse population of approximately 22,000 Ismailis, Alawites and Christians. The city is well known for its large medieval castle, particularly its role as the headquarters of the Nizari Ismailis and their elite Assassins unit.

==Etymology== Throughout the Islamic era and until the modern day, the Arabic name of the city was pronounced in a number of different ways by the inhabitants of the region as Maṣyaf, Maṣyat or Maṣyad. The Arabic name is a local pronunciation that evolved from the Assyrian name Manṣuate. The "nṣw" in Manṣuate correlates with the Arabic "nṣṣ", which means "to set up", according to orientalist scholar Edward Lipinsky. Moreover, Lipinsky suggests that the Assyrian name was likely a configuration of the Assyrian word manṣuwatu which correlates with the Arabic word minaṣṣatu(n), both of which translate as "raised platform". This translation is indicative of the promontory that the Masyaf fortress occupies which overlooks the rest of the city and the surrounding area.