Original subtitles

(exciting orchestral music)

(upbeat music)

(intense music)

(soft music)

- [Narrator] A thousand years ago,

the Persian empire stretched from the Mediterranean Sea

all the way to India and down to Egypt.

This great empire was ruled by a warrior shah.

He had the absolute power of life and death.

Even the most exalted bent at his feet.

Yet this mighty ruler would now be forgotten

but for the work of a man

who was among the humblest of his subjects.

Omar Khayyam.

He was a happy man

with friends among both the lowly and the great

in the ancient city of Nishapur.

The motto of those dangerous and exciting days was,

"Think as your master thinks."

But Omar Khayyam thought for himself.

He was a lover of life and wisdom,

a poet when the mood was upon him,

and a mathematician when it was not.

He was a student of the stars

and of those things written in the stars.

Omar Khayyam had an understanding of human nature

and a philosophy which has conquered the hearts of men.

And of women.

(soft music)

- You are early.

You almost caught me in the water.

- How beautiful you look.

- Have you been to the palace?

Did you ask for audience with the Shah?

- Look at your willow tree.

Now, what could be more graceful,

bowing its thanks to the earth which gives it life?

Would you have me bow low before the Shah,

humble, grateful for some office

he's been pleased to give me?

I like myself better as I am.

- But only by court favour can you...

- You are more beautiful than any flower, did you know?

-If I am, it is a gift I shall bring to you soon.

- A gift that will never fade.

Look in my eyes.

Do you see your image there as you are now?

That is how you will always look to me.

(romantic music)

- I sometimes think of the three prayers

I shall whisper on my marriage morning.

One is for the man 1 love for himself alone...

- (chuckles) I have little to offer but myself.

- The second is that love will never leave us,

and the third...

The third is a selfish prayer,

that you may always be happy,

and then I know I shall be happy, too.

- I have learned a precious thing from you,

you do not live until you love.

It makes a heaven within you and a paradise around.

This is my paradise.

It was here I first saw you.

- I remember that day.

- It was here you first said you loved me.

- Sharain, your father! (dramatic music)

- He must not see you here with me unveiled.

- Where is Sharain?

My child, I have been summoned to the palace.

I shall be worried until I know the reason.

- The Shah may have some new honour for you.

- No, if that were so, it would not be a private audience

when the business of the day is done.

I am worried.

(energetic music) (goats bleating)

- Hasani! - Oh, by my eyes!

How good to see you.

- Good to see you after so long.

- Hasani, you do not change.

- Nor you.

The same coat?

- The best I have.

- The same Omar Khayyam.

- This is all your caravan?

- Uh-huh.

- What do you have here?

- Something to please the eye of the Shah.

And here is something else.

- Ah, beautiful.

Beautiful work.

- Lapis lazuli and pure gold,

beautiful on the wrist of a woman or a man.

It's for you.

- For me?

Oh, no, Hasani, I couldn't.

A gift of...

How can I ever thank you?

- Be ever my friend, I shall be thanked forever.

Omar, will you come with me to the palace?

- The palace is crowded with office hunters

fawning on the chamberlains.

I want nothing there.

- Now, listen. Listen to me.

I have often listened to you.

You must have preferment at the palace

if you're to advance yourself today.

- Sharain tells me that, too.

- Sharain?

The Imam's daughter?

You are still in love?

- We should've been married by now, but...

- First, you wish to provide a setting for such a jewel.

That is exactly what I was going to talk to you about.

We made a pact, you, I, and the Nizam

when we were students here,

that if one gained fortune in later life,

he was to do what he could to help the others.

- A boyhood notion.

- I would not hold the Nizam to that, but consider this.

The shah has moved his court here to safety.

Why?

Two provinces in rebellion, his cousin claiming the throne,

the Byzantines threatening our borders.

- So, so?

- Put yourself in the place of the Nizam,

keeper of the kingdom.

All these troubles fall on his shoulders,

with his head as penalty if he fails the Shah.

He stands alone in a court full of lying,

flattering parasites

with no one on whom he can rely,

and then two friends are announced.

- You and 1.

- Lifelong friends whose faithfulness he can trust.

(people shouting) (dramatic music)

What's happening?

- See the red caps?

Two assassins were executed yesterday.

- Come with me.

- We three together.

It will be like the old days again. (laughing)

Omar, I've watched your work all these years.

I'm proud of you.

Name any position, any appointment here at court,

any office and I'll see that you have it.

- No, no, no.

I came with Hasani only to say

that if ever you have need of me...

- No, no, no.

Come quickly, quickly before the day's audience ends.

Come with me.

(men chattering)

- A ceremonial sword, my son.

A beautiful gift.

- With it I pledge the same loyalty

you gave to your father.

- I thank you, Ahmud.

- His sword has more glitter,

but mine was pure steel, to be worn in battle.

- Your vows of loyalty mean more to me

than your gifts, my sons.

Your swords I shall carry, each on the right occasion.

And now...

We were about to end this audience.

- Most illustrious highness, I beg your indulgence.

These men are friends

whose loyalty I pledge with my life.

From the city of Rey,

lately overlord to the governor of Gilan, Hasani Sabah.

(courtiers mumbling)

And with him, your highness,

is one acclaimed for his learning,

honoured for his wisdom, and praised for his verses,

Omar Khayyam.

- Omar Khayyam.

- Omar Khayyam of Nishapur, come forward.

What do you bring in homage to our shah,

lord of the east and the west?

- What can a poet bring except a poem?

- They all come with long, dull poems.

We cut the last one short.

(courtiers laughing)

- I will make mine only two couplets and one verse.

- Let us hear it.

- "There is a door to which we have no key.

"There is a veil through which we cannot see.

"And all this worldly hope

"men set their hearts upon,

"lights but a little hour or two,

"and then is gone.

"So think in this battered caravanserai,

"whose portals are alternate night and day.

"Think how sultan after sultan

"with his pomp

"abides his destined hour

"and goes his way."

(courtiers murmuring)

(bell ringing)

- Your highness, he intended no insult.

- You came wearing no court robe,

bringing no tribute but words,

with no thought that those words might give of fence?

- My father, deal with that man as his words demand!

- "Deal with him," you say, Ahmud?

And how shall we deal with a man

in whose words is truth,

and truth is rarer than jewels.

My honoured father taught me three things

as I have taught you, my sons.

Ride a horse well, shoot an arrow straight,

and tell the truth.

In our court, let every man speak only the truth.

It always burns clean.

You alone have dared to remind us

of things we should all remember.

Who besides the Nizam commends this poet to me?

- Your highness.

- Imam Mowafek, head of the college of Sena in this city.

- They were my one-time students,

His Excellency the Nizam, Hasani Sabah, and Omar Khayyam.

He taught algebraic science to Prince Malik

when your son was in my care.

With figures he can show what is needed

when an army moves,

and his poems prove his natural wisdom

if only because they are short.

He has that wonder of every age, a universal mind,

which masters many forms of knowledge.

In the sciences and in all matters of the stars,

Omar Khayyam has no equal.

- You can offer warnings and foreshow events by the stars?

- Some may have that power, your highness, but I...

I would sooner think the stars are in the sky

to guide those who cross seas and deserts

or to serve as fixed points

in the making of calendars.

Our calendar is much in error, your highness.

We celebrate your birth date a week late.

(courtiers murmuring)

The hours of prayer, the times of feasting and fasting

all begin when they should be over,

and each tomorrow went past us several yesterdays ago.

- Then make it your business to create a new calendar.

The Nizam and the Imam both praise your wisdom.

Tell me, oh, man of wisdom,

what is the wisest thing you know?

- The wisest thing?

- Death is ever at your ear, whispering, "I am near,"

so the wisest thing in life is to enjoy it.

- I like this man.

What office do you seek?

- No office.

- But if he may be given some place

from which to study the stars...

- So be it, supply all he needs,

and also appoint him a counsellor to the court.

(courtiers murmuring)

Now, your other friend.

- Hasani Sabah, what do you bring

in homage to the Shah?

- Gifts that I pray will be worthy

of your excellent highness.

(gong sounds) (dance music)

This dancer from faraway India.

(voices overlapping)

And now, from the farthest edge of the world,

a jewel of the east for your delight.

(bright dance music)

- [Shah] Tutush.

(men laughing)

- Your excellent highness,

this is not the total of my tribute.

- There is more?

- There is more, your highness.

Of all the treasures set before your most exalted eyes,

no gift can surpass what I offer now.

Brought from the rebellious northwest provinces,

the heads of your enemies.

Sulayman, who claimed your throne,

the traitor Bandari, taken with my sword.

(courtiers murmuring) (dramatic music)

- Sulayman, my too ambitious cousin.

Bandari, our lifelong enemies.

This is good, indeed,

and the better for keeping 'till the last.

- The heads will also keep.

They are dipped in wax and honey.

(courtiers laughing)

- You took them yourself?

- I surprised their camp in the Elburz Mountains.

- I wish we could as easily be rid of the Byzantines

and these assassins who plague us.

A man who can make such use

of other heads besides his own,

deserves good office.

- Then if your excellent majesty

has not yet named the keeper of the seal...

- We had already named our brother Tutush,

but he can be our overlord,

and you shall be keeper of the seal.

See to it.

And let us end this audience.

(gong sounds)

Imam Mowafek, come with us.

(courtiers chattering)

- Keeper of the seal.

You will rank next to myself.

- Oh, Omar, there's an old watchtower on the palace walls.

I will arrange it as an observatory for you.

- I thank you.

I will join you later.

(crowd chattering) (soft music)

- Ah, Tutush, my old friend.

- Hasani Sabah, you have not forgotten me,

the fool of the school.

- Now overlord to the Shah.

- Well, he's my brother.

He had to make use of me.

- Hasani Sabah, tell me, where does a man buy such women?

- Such women are not for young princes.

- They're hard to find and costly to keep.

(soft music)

Why do they stay so close to your back?

- They're guarding me.

I have been threatened by the assassins.

They never leave me, day or night.

This one's a Greek, the other's a Syrian.

The Syrian has a split tongue.

He's dumb.

- Oh, these assassins.

Sometimes they kill with no reason at all

that anyone can see.

- They'll stab a man to the heart, anyone, a stranger,

then stand and wait to be killed by his friends.

- I found one of their daggers in the pillow of my bed

with a demand for 1,000 gold pieces,

or my life if I failed to pay.

- And he has not paid.

- Why not, is your life not worth it?

- I have a position, overlord, royal brother.

- If the Lord Tutush pays,

then others will have to submit in the same way.

- True, they say if a man can live past the time

set by the assassins for him to die, they let him live.

- But no one has ever done that.

- I shall do it, I hope,

and I shall sit by this water clock

when the assassins have set the time for my last hour.

- It's not working.

- Well, make it work, Omar.

Make it work, my friend.

(soft music) (people chattering)

- My brother, do you know our father's business in council

is to choose a woman from the city?

She is to take the place of the fourth wife.

- Such a marriage will make his union

with the people here more secure, Ahmud.

- My mother, his first wife Zarada,

she will always be queen.

- No one disputes that.

Ah, he will take Miza, the city governor's daughter.

She's young and nicely fat.

- No, no, no.

Not Miza, no?

Did no one see?

The Shah took the Imam's arm.

His daughter was reported as being everything

his highness could desire. - Ah, Sharain.

(metal clacking) (dramatic music)

- It may not be Sharain.

- Women are chattels, Omar.

One is as good as another.

- I heard the Shah will place his own guard around her.

- I will take her out of the city.

(dramatic music)

Is it Sharain? - Omar!

(dramatic music)

Omar!

(crowd murmuring)

(guards shouting)

- Sharain!

(banging on door)

- Have you lost your mind?

- You could have persuaded him!

- I did all in my power,

but the Shah is determined.

She's known to the people, liked by them.

- She is mine, she has always been mine!

- He will cut down any man who tries to come near her.

(solemn music)

- I cannot give her up.

- You once said a man must bend

to the times in which he lives.

- So I must bend to the right of a king

to do a wrong.

- It has always been so.

Palace politics!

There are other women.

- And all women, by our beliefs, are chattels,

creatures without souls to be bought, bartered, given away.

- Forget what you cannot have.

- Forgetting is love's most hateful art.

I am not practised in it.

(dramatic fanfare)

- See yourself now for the last time as a maid.

Remember, make no answer until the last question.

(tense music)

(singer vocalising)

- Sharain, daughter of Imam Mowafek,

will you take our illustrious Shah,

lord of the east and the west, for your husband?

J Take my heart J

J Let it warm your dreams J

- Mother, she comes without jewels.

- I brought the treasures of the Khazar kingdom

when he married me.

- You will still be his first wife.

- I will still be queen, my son.

- [Priest] For the second time we ask,

will you take our illustrious Shah,

lord of the east and the west,

for your husband?

J My love J

J My one and only love ;

s So sweet, so dear J

J My love J

J When you are lo-lo-loved

For the last time we ask,

will you take our illustrious Shah,

lord of the east and the west, for your husband?

- [Imam] You must answer.

- I consent.

(crowd murmurs)

- Mushalah.

(all clapping)

(tense music)

- Oh, my beloved.

Come fill the cup that clears today

of past regrets and future fears.

Past regrets and future fears.

- Omar!

Good news.

I've persuaded the Shah to forgive you

for leaving the marriage ceremony as you did.

That was a dangerous thing to do.

- He calls himself a lover of truth.

He should understand.

- Not everyone understands you, you or your philosophy.

But you will be welcome again at court.

This has a perfume you may recognise.

I saw Sharain today for the first time since the marriage.

(Omar laughing)

- Forget her, she tells me.

"It is against my heart to say forget me, but you must.

"I shall forget you if I can.

"God grant you some other happiness, Sharain."

I loved her first and only, you know that.

And that first love never dies, not in any man.

Let him deny it how he will.

It lives with him as long as he's alive to carry it.

- All lovers are a little mad.

- Between Sharain and me there was a love

which would have borne us children and great joys.

Do you think that is madness?

- Omar, take my advice,

it is better now never to speak with her,

nor to see her!

- If I may no longer love her

with my voice and my eyes,

I will continue to love her in the solitude of my mind.

- And for ego all other women?

Oh, Omar!

Tomorrow will look better to you.

I am sending you the mo...

I am sending you some more wine.

Oh, the Lord Tutush was asking for you.

He is still defying the assassins.

They have given him until midnight

to pay or be killed.

- Yes, I know.

I've had new parts made for the water clock.

I shall be there in time.

- The Nizam, the nobleman who just went from here

bought her in the market this morning.

She cost him half her weight in gold.

He has sent her to you as a gift.

- I was trained by slave masters in Medina.

You have no servant nor any wife.

I will keep good order here.

Then you need never take the burden of a wife.

Slaves are trained to please, wives are not.

This key will unlock my collar.

- I thank the Nizam for his wine.

I must return his other gift.

- But, if you send me away,

the Nizam's money must be returned,

and I shall be beaten because I am rejected.

- I prefer being alone.

- You have no comfort here.

Your couch looks hard, my lord,

if I may call you "my lord."

Is this your cupboard?

No more than a little rice and...

A handful of tea?

- It satisfies me.

- Now... - But this, this high place!

Why, it is open to every wind that ever blew.

But I could make it a paradise for you.

And does not the prophet

promise many joys in paradise?

Feasting, rivers of wine and honey,

maidens with eyes like stars

and saffron bodies smelling of musk.

If all that is waiting for a man

in the world to come,

surely it is right for him to enjoy

some of those pleasures here on earth,

according to his mood.

I will bring you wine and honey,

and for the delight of your eyes,

I have a saffron skin.

I have perfumed myself with musk.

In your great goodness, unlock my collar.

(soft music)

- I must take these to a friend before midnight.

What is your name?

- Yaffa.

- Yaffa.

Make yourself a place to sleep.

And in the morning...

We shall see.

- [Guard] All guards are alerted.

- All guards are alerted.

- All guards are alerted.

- Omar, I do not understand clocks,

how do you tell the moment of midnight?

- The instant the manikin reaches its highest mark,

one day dies and the new one is born.

He falls, then rises,

and begins to count the hours again.

- He will soon fall.

- I see no assassins yet.

- They are easy to see.

They wear a red turban or a red cap

when they come to kill, and be killed.

- Red turban or red cap.

- As a physician, I tell you these are madmen.

They are users of hashish, hashishin.

Assassins, they believe when they meet death

they go straight to paradise.

- But what is their purpose?

- We have heard they want to set up

a caliph of their own,

a supreme being raised above all earthly kings.

It is said they have a secret leader

who is never seen and yet is always with them.

- It is almost on the hour.

- Be alert at the doors!

- Everyone alert! - Alert everywhere!

Watch for the red turbans!

Watch for the red turbans.

- Be alert now! - Everywhere alert!

- How can any assassins enter here?

- If any assassin can Kill the overlord Tutush now,

I will pay for the funeral feast to his memory.

- And I'll buy the wine.

- And I shall help you drink it.

Never fear.

How much longer?

- Any moment now.

- Be alert, Bepah!

- Alert, Bepah! - Bepah, Bepah!

- Midnight!

(Tutush chuckling)

- Where are these assassins now?

- Aah! (dramatic music)

(crowd clamouring)

- Goosh bed ah!

- These assassins are enemies of God and the Shah.

- [Crowd] Yeah, yeah!

- Our Shah condemns them!

Here are his words and writing giving a new law.

Hear it!

Repeat it.

- "Any man who wears an assassin's red cap

"or carries an assassin's dagger,

"deliver him up alive.

"And for each assassin, 20 pieces of gold!"

(people clamouring)

- Did you hear that?

20 pieces of gold for every assassin.

- Blood money.

- But where do you find them?

- Blood money has a sharper point than any weapon.

That will dig them out.

- This chicken, fit for a king's table.

- It is stuffed with almonds and grapes,

and the young turnips are minced with Greek cheese.

- Omar gives everything a poet's touch.

- If the Shah could taste this...

- Omar, you should be at the palace.

All counsellors have been summoned.

- The courier has arrived with news of the Byzantines.

His highness has already inquired for you twice today.

- If his illustrious highness inquires again,

say that a hungry man gives bad counsel,

and a thirsty man gives worse.

- You can hardly be thirsty.

- I am full of wine, but not too full.

Let us drink to the memory of Tutush.

- Why do you always spill wine before you drink?

- Because we are all mortal clay.

Our substance from the common earth is taken,

and in the end, these bodies crumble back to earth again.

So some think it kind before they drink

to spill a little of this old familiar juice

into the dust to wet the lips of those

who have passed this way before us.

To Tutush.

And in his memory, tread gently, friends.

Tread gently on the dust.

(dramatic music) (people clamouring)

- [Man] Make way for the queen!

Come on, get back, out of the way!

(crowd clamouring)

(romantic music)

- Sharain.

- You must not be seen here speaking with me.

- But I am a counsellor to the court.

- The Shah knows.

He has known since you left the...

- Since you gave him the beauty you had promised to me.

- Had I any choice?

- "I shall forget you," you said.

Have you forgotten me?

- My love...

- Have you, have you?

- No.

I cannot forget you.

I weep for you.

- Now I see your tears,

invisible tears, the saddest of all.

The Shah has done us a great wrong.

- Not willingly.

He cannot change it.

You are my only love.

- Love without hope is a bitter delight.

If only...

If only...

Could you and I with fate conspire

to grasp the sorry scheme of things entire?

- The best verses always come suddenly to you.

Go on, go on!

- There is no more.

- The Byzantines are already across our border.

Never have they had better soldiers!

Greeks, Franks, Bulgars!

- Where you say did they invade us?

- Near the Caspian Sea, your highness.

- We thank you for your report.

- Now, my commanders and counsellors,

what have you to say?

- If we ride to meet them,

we shall be outnumbered four to one!

- I say let them come!

While the cities in their path delay them, call up levies.

Then give battle and be sure of victory.

- Victory is never sure.

I say again, we cross the Caspian Sea

and land secretly behind the Byzantines.

- Your highness, is it wise to trust your armies

to the chance of storms and bad weather?

- Omar, what have you to say?

- What does a poet know about strategy?

- He led horse archers in Iberia and against the Khival!

- You come to council the worse for wine?

- A wise man is never the worse for wine, your highness.

- In your wisdom, do you also disagree with my strategy?

- Cross the Caspian.

- Do we swim that sea with waggons, horses, and men?

- A thousand boats and barges can be waiting.

- How?

- My son, the cities of our empire

have long been linked by pigeon messengers.

They would carry the orders under my seal

for the vessels to meet us.

- How fast can we move by boat?

- Faster than by land.

Boats move by day and also by night

when men and horses must rest.

At this season, the wind blows hard across the Caspian,

keeping the sky clear and filling every sail.

Attack late in the day.

When night falls, break off.

Reform, attack again.

I will give your highness the time

for the dark of the moon.

Make it your purpose at the outset

to capture or kill the Byzantine leader.

When they lose the one who pays them,

these hired soldiers will vanish

like water into sand.

- You support my own strategy.

You add to it.

We will discuss this further,

and if we so decide,

then let the pigeons fly.

- With whistles on their backs

to scare away the hawks.

(dramatic music)

(pigeon cooing)

- Now let them fly!

(whistles whistling)

- [Crowd] To victory, to victory!

(bright music)

- 10 thousand men will ride with us at dawn.

The rest will join us on the Caspian.

I pray our strategy proves sound.

If it fails, not a man will return.

- Let me ride with you.

I have proved my sword, your highness.

I will come with him.

- The Nizam has greater need of you here.

Hasani, with the army gone,

the assassins may begin a time of murder and terror.

Be alert against them.

And you, Omar!

If your new calendar is ready when we return,

we will name it to mark our victory.

That Indian girl you gave us, she dances well.

- Queen Zarada.

She hopes that you will name prince Ahmud

to ride with you,

to be bloodied in battle as heir to your throne.

- They hate each other

as only half brothers can hate.

- It has all been decided, Ahmud.

- I can demand the privilege of a prince to speak.

- Then demand it!

Stand on the dais.

- Before all here,

I claim the right to go at my father's side.

- It's an honour, not a right.

- I have horse and arm our ready.

- He will give arm our to the one he chooses.

- It will not be you, you have no heart for fighting.

- No heart?

(men murmuring)

- Let them fight!

But fight as warriors.

And to spur you to it, this sword,

the one you gave me, Malik,

to the one that overcomes his brother!

And that one shall ride with me.

(people shouting)

- My lord, stop them or he will kill him.

- If he is too weak to stand in my place,

better he die now.

(crowd shouting)

(laughing)

(crowd shouting)

(dramatic music)

- I never...

Never had to fight like that before.

- This was the time for it, my friend.

- You'll be scarred the rest of your life.

- A mark of honour when I ride with my father.

- He loves you, Malik,

as he loved your mother.

- She was his only love.

He's never forgiven the fate that took her from him.

- My prince, you remind me of a verse I never completed.

The ending now comes to me.

It began, "Could you and I with fate conspire

"to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,

"would we not shatter it to bits,

"and then remould it nearer to our heart's desire?"

- Does he mean that if we knew our destiny,

we would change it if we could?

- He means that and many things beside.

- I am the firstborn!

I have a rightful title!

- You should have killed him!

(dramatic music)

- Malik is now marked heir to the throne.

You are less than nothing.

But your son can still take his father's place.

On the day I came,

I brought two noble heads,

each dipped in wax and honey.

- There are other heads

I would like to see dipped in wax and honey.

- There are those who would count no cost

in gold or blood

to put your son Ahmud on the throne,

if he were promised as an ally.

Except for Malik,

the way is clear for him

now the Lord Tutush is dead.

Then you, Zarada, the royal Khazar,

you could win back all your lost lands,

be queen in your own country.

We will talk later after the Shah is gone.

(gong striking)

(Muezzin praying)

(singer vocalising) (group laughing)

- Tell her to stop that singing.

(singer vocalising)

- Queen Sharain says the singing will stop

when the song ends.

- Quick, quick, quick!

We want to show you to the queen.

- Look, her hair, how fine it is.

- And her skin, rich as honey.

- And her back.

- Men love to kiss a beautiful back.

- She is all you have said.

- Before he left, the Shah gave permission to marry her

to someone at court.

- Then marry her to Omar Khayyam.

- He is too wise to want a wife.

- Far too wise.

- He already owns a slave girl, bought at high expense.

- And they do all a wife can do.

(group chuckling)

- He's a great lover of beauty.

Better he should have a wife in his house

than reach after a slave on a throne.

- A queen is never a slave.

And every true wife is a queen.

- There will be many changes when the Shah returns.

(women laughing)

- There will be changes whether the Shah returns or not!

(women laughing)

(drums beating) (group murmuring)

(women murmuring)

- Who are they?

(dramatic music) (people clamouring)

- Assassins going to their deaths.

(crowd clamouring)

- They are laughing at their own execution.

- If only we knew where they come from

and who sends them.

- We have tried to make them tell us where they come from,

but they take delight in their own torture

as they do in death.

To them, pain becomes a pleasure.

(people shouting)

- One assassin dead.

- What are these charts?

- Oh, calculations for my new calendar,

but none are yet proved.

I must soon go to the mountains

to make observations in clear air.

(people shouting)

- Each day, we execute a few,

and always the rest grow more dangerous.

New murders, disappearances, caravan raids.

(people shouting)

Yesterday we executed six,

the day before, seven.

I have lost count of how many before that.

(people shouting)

Four more...

Fellow men I ordered slain.

- You're enforcing the law, acting for the Shah.

- In his absence, they have become more troublesome,

just as he warned.

- His highness repeats that warning

in today's dispatch.

He says half the army is already under sail.

He sends a message to Sharain

and asks for supplies.

He orders the reserve levies to leave at once.

- Let Ahmud take them.

He can move up with the levies.

- No, no. - Why not?

He'd be in a position to support the Shah.

- Not!

Ahmud leaves only as his highness directs.

I have to give orders about the supplies.

We must start a caravan away as soon as possible.

(romantic music)

- Why she attracts me is a riddle to which I have no answer.

- There is no answer.

Women are mysteries, even to themselves.

- Will you sell her to me?

Or if you'll not name a price, let me have her.

I'll give you three in her place,

two Greeks and a beautiful Khazar.

They were in the market today.

- No, no.

- I can wait.

- My lord, there is something I must tell you.

I know a man who once was an assassin.

He lives in an old tomb

in fear of them and a little mad.

A girl who was in the slave market with me,

she takes him food.

He could tell you many things you want to know.

His name is Yusuf.

The tongue of a slave can be split for talking too much,

so I did not speak before.

- Why do you tell me now?

- Because you must have some love for me

if you would not sell me to Hasani Sabah.

He offered a great price.

- You would not be happy with him.

- When such a man buys a woman,

he buys only her body.

To you, I was a gift.

And brought more than a body.

My lord, once while you slept,

I tried this around my neck.

- I like it better on my wrist.

- But if it were around my neck, people would think,

"Ah, he is about to wed his Yaffa."

Men do wed their bought slaves,

becoming accustomed to them

and knowing they are always

the most faithful of women.

It would make it plain

that your heart is no longer with anyone in the palace.

Which is a dangerous place for a heart to be.

Slaves hear much.

When they whisper among themselves,

your Yaffa always listens.

- Women listen only when they should not.

Now take me to that man who was an assassin.

(tense music)

- I made that.

With silver I stripped from the grave under here.

I was the finest silversmith in Sijistan.

- Would you like to sell this at a very good price?

- If I have money,

I can follow a caravan to the sea.

This yellow robe, with my stick,

ringing my bell,

I'd pass for a leper.

None dare come near.

I would take Lelah with me.

And across the sea,

I shall no more fear daggers like these.

- Tell me, Yusuf,

you were once an assassin yourself, weren't you?

- I was.

Until it began to be said

our own caliph must rule the world.

By God's decree, we were to be overlords.

We must meet in hidden places,

learn secret teachings,

use hashish, and agree and obey or you die.

Kill when you're told to kill.

I would not kill.

- Where are these hidden places?

- In Syria.

In Kurdistan.

But the centre is Alamut,

a huge rock fortified by Trajan the Roman,

high in the north mountains.

- The north mountains?

- The leaders are at Alamut.

There, you go in a man,

but you come out an assassin,

or you do not come out at all.

And hang your head on a hook.

All they do is by sevens.

Seven mystic proverbs,

each of seven words.

Seven rings to their daggers,

one for each grade in the sect,

each one more clever than the one below.

And at the top, the grand master,

who is always with them.

See that shadow?

(dramatic music)

Two faces looking different ways.

If you had enough lamps,

the dagger would make a thousand faces,

all alike, all looking different ways.

- [Omar] Who is the grand master?

- Only the seven priors know.

- And the mount of Alamut,

high above the Khazvin Road, is their centre.

Their very core.

- We can send men from our levies.

- That stronghold's stood a thousand years

and never yet been taken by force.

But one man may enter where an army would fail.

- But Omar, you shouldn't...

- It is known I must go to the mountains

and make observations for my calendar.

- You mean to go there alone?

- I'll be safeguarded by the very risk I seem to run.

- Omar.

Sharain is at her father's house.

She joined him for supper.

She will wait in the garden for you.

- [Nizam] Omar, you forgot this!

- [Omar] Keep it for yourself.

- A message for the Shah from her highness.

- It will be delivered with my own dispatch.

The caravan leaves tonight.

- Tomorrow is soon enough.

- No, it will leave tonight.

- But I...

- I give the orders here.

I'm still keeper of the kingdom.

- When will you go to Alamut?

- In the morning.

- Take me with you.

My lord, I have a feeling

I shall never hear your voice again

once you're gone.

- Are you afraid of the assassins

because you took me to Yusuf?

- No.

They have never yet killed a woman.

- Then what is this feeling?

- Some things a woman knows, my lord.

No one tells her, but she knows.

- Here, take this money to Yusuf.

- Yusuf is dead.

The assassins have killed him. (dramatic music)

They watched me go to him.

How quickly they strike.

Now I have yet one more reason to go to Alamut.

(soft music)

Then you keep this.

Buy yourself whatever you like.

(tense music)

(romantic music)

- My guards are outside.

- The master herald gave me your message.

For you to risk so much...

Why did you send for me?

- I have heard that you may go to the mountains.

- In the morning, to work on the calendar

and other matters for the Shah.

- In the morning?

Omar, I am afraid of what might happen while you are gone.

There's a strange feeling in the palace.

Zarada's tongue ran loose one day,

and she hinted many things.

She whispers with Hasani Sabah.

They meet in secret.

There is gossip that she has left the palace.

- Every court is busy with whispers and secrets.

Hasani, by nature, is full of plots and schemes.

- I am not suited to court affairs,

but to know you were near was a comfort to me.

But now when you are gone and...

(gate creaks)

- [Man] Saket!

(roman music)

- I will speak to the Nizam and the master herald,

two good friends, old friends,

who will always be at hand.

And I, myself, shall return before the full of the moon.

Must you remain veiled before me?

Be generous with your love.

It is the only treasure which grows

as you give it away.

Tonight, all the beauty in the world is in one place,

in this garden, in you.

If God should stoop to ask me now

what I seek of heaven,

I would answer with my heart,

"A book of verses underneath the bough,

"a jug of wine, a loaf of bread,

"and thou beside me, singing in the wilderness.

"Then wilderness were paradise enow."

(dramatic music)

(crowd murmuring)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- Omar Khayyam, you are most welcome.

I am Buzorg, the head prior.

Prior Jayhan, Prior Dikar.

- I come unbidden, and yet it seems I was expected.

- We knew when you left Nishapur.

- And we know that you've come to work on your calendar.

- I've heard it said your eyes, ears, and dagger points

are everywhere.

- (laughing) Please.

Prior Kisrak, Prior Rashidi.

Like yourself, she, too, is a distinguished guest

and a friend of our sect.

Prior Jayhan, show our guest to his quarters.

Prior Dastur, Prior Sayyid.

- These are Roman arches.

- Yes, the Emperor Trajan's mark.

The remnants of Roman conquest.

- I have read the legend of a great rock

which has many Roman arches.

- This very rock.

We hope you will find all comfort here.

I am to be your companion and advisor.

Pure gold.

- That vase must be from Kashan.

- [Advisor] A good place for your calendar instruments

would be high up by the pigeon keeper's quarters.

- Do you know much about carrier pigeons?

- No, but I like that colour.

- The colour tells me where the birds carry to.

Where they come from. (pigeon cooing)

This one came in this morning from Hamadan.

Men take 20 days to cover this distance,

but a bird brings news in one.

- Do they fly by day and by night?

- Not usually.

I try to raise a few to fly by night, also.

I breed them inside the rock.

- Oh.

(pigeons cooing)

- Here comes one now.

- Would you show me the birds within the rock?

- I'm sorry, I must take this to Prior Buzorg at once.

It comes from the Grand Master.

- Is the Grand Master not here?

- No.

(soft music)

- Constant, patient, bright, and everlasting stars.

The eyes of God.

- And all of them together not as useful as one moon

to a man on a dark night.

Tomorrow, when you're not working about your calendar,

I'm to show you the secret of our success.

- You do not know who I am?

- When I first saw you,

I recognised the walk of a Khazar woman.

It is famous.

- You do not wonder to find me here?

- I no longer wonder to find a woman anywhere.

And no other has the eyes, the form, and features

of Zarada, the royal Khazar.

- I came here because you were coming.

- You have deserted the palace and the Shah?

- Soon there will be no palace, no Shah.

You gave him the battle plan by which he fights.

You could figure me a strategy

to win back the lost Khazar lands.

Then I would no longer be an exile.

I would be queen of the Khazar countries,

an ally of the assassins like you.

- They said that of me?

- They set value on you, as I do.

You owe no loyalty to the Shah.

He took your most lovely rose of Nishapur

and made her his...

Favourite and his queen. (soft music)

To him, you are just a maker of verses and calendars.

But to me...

- In the slave markets,

they say that Khazar women are the easiest to sell

because they're always worth the price.

Tell your allies the price is more than I will pay.

(solemn music)

- The Grand Master is our brains and head.

We priors are the hands which he controls.

All others are tools.

In the caverns of this rock,

and in places near and distant,

we shape those tools.

- Another Roman arch.

- The Romans built them to strengthen the rock.

(dramatic music)

- What is this, naphtha?

- Yes, that is another of the wonders of Alamut.

It appears like sweat from the very rock.

We use it for our lamps and lanterns.

In some places, it makes an eternal fire,

lighting the caves.

We store our water there, behind that rock dam.

Here, our novices are instructed in toil

and blind obedience.

They chant the first of seven secret maxims.

- [Group] Obedience and silence, obedience and silence.

Obedience and silence.

- They learn the first rule of sacred conduct.

- [Group] Obedience and silence, obedience and silence.

- Here, in the second degree,

we tangle them in a maze of doubt

about the teachings of the Koran.

- [Group] Nothing is sacred, all is allowed.

Nothing is sacred, all is allowed.

Nothing is sacred, all is allowed.

Nothing is sacred, all is allowed.

- And here in the third degree,

we teach them fearlessness and singleness of purpose.

- [Group] Nothing is true, all is allowed.

Nothing is true, all is allowed.

Nothing is true, all is allowed.

Nothing is true, all is allowed.

- To increase their endurance,

they stand here seven days and nights in solitude.

This is the fourth degree.

When lifelong beliefs have been shattered

and all faith has gone,

we tell them what to believe.

For as God created seven heavens and seven seas,

seven planets, and seven colours,

so He also appointed seven excellent creatures

to be teachers of mankind.

And the seventh of these is our own Grand Master,

who sees all and who is always with us.

(dramatic music)

Any who still have moral scruples

are condemned to death.

- No, no, no, no, no!

(man screaming)

(drums beating)

(people screaming)

After swearing seven oaths

which dedicate life itself to us,

they have their first experience in the use of hashish.

In a drugged delirium,

which makes common things seem beautiful,

they are deluded into believing

they have been to paradise.

And if they meet death in the service of the sect,

they return instantly to those delights.

(man screaming) (drums beating)

(men screaming)

(gong striking)

You have seen how we shape our human weapons.

They deliver themselves to us body and soul.

A perfect weapon,

and one which is never idle.

Last night the Grand Master returned.

Soon now, you will learn the greatness of our purpose.

- Have you completed the work you came here to do?

- I have only to compare these computations

with those I made in Nishapur.

- Then we shall have a new calendar

to mark a new beginning in the world.

- We will name it after the Grand Master.

- My work was done at the Shah's orders.

It should be named for him.

- Obedience.

Obedience and silence.

- Ahmuda.

- The Grand Master calls us to the tower.

(tense music)

(gong sounds)

- [Buzorg] The Grand Master.

(dramatic music)

- I thought it was your face, Hasani,

in the shadow that the daggers throw.

- But you were never sure.

We have a gift for Omar Khayyam.

And for all of you, I have news.

The Shah found the Byzantines in great strength

beyond the Caspian Sea.

He routed them with your strategy,

but he and Prince Malik are wounded.

(people murmuring)

They've lost more than half their army in dead.

He is made weak by his own victory.

And Prince Ahmud, son of Zarada, the royal Khazar,

is allied with us,

riding with the reserve levies

to cut off what is left of the Shah's army.

If there is fighting,

the Shah and Prince Malik will be killed.

If they surrender, they will fall under our daggers.

Prince Ahmud will take his father's place on the throne,

appoint our own caliph,

and declare war on all who oppose us.

- [Zarada] How great!

- How magnificent, o chosen one.

- May your shadow cover the earth.

(men murmuring)

- Is our friend the Nizam with you in this?

- It appears the Nizam is dead.

- Was it...

Was it by your orders?

- He was killed, as you might have been.

- You were his lifelong friend,

whose faithfulness he could trust, your own words!

- He was too rigid in his loyalty to the Shah.

Now I shall have you near as my counsellor.

And common men will follow more readily

when they know Omar Khayyam is one of us.

Nothing can stop what has now begun.

God, whose finger is decked

with the seal of truth and prophecy,

has placed the world at our feet.

- Magnificent. - How great, O chosen one.

- [Group] O chosen one, O chosen one.

- They call you chosen one,

the seventh excellent creature.

Are you also to be appointed caliph,

interpreting the will of God,

supreme ruler above all earthly kings?

- If it were not so, I could not wear these robes

nor hold this office.

(people murmuring)

- You have named me your counsellor.

But I am happier with lesser matters,

like this strip of vellum

on which I have reduced the year to better reckoning.

These figures will guide the lives of men

when our mouths have been stopped

with the dust of a thousand years

and the name of Omar Khayyam

is just as long forgotten.

And these figures written on the skins of lambs

have more power than all your daggers and secret plans.

Such men as you have risen in every generation,

from the dawn of mankind to our times,

each with another form of the ancient conspiracy

to rule this earth.

Millions of men have died to prove them wrong.

What you are doing is not new

and will never be old.

When you have failed as all those before you

have failed and miserably died,

it will happen again, and over again,

as long as my calendar shall last.

But my calendar may not last an hour.

Only sworn assassins leave this rock.

(people murmuring)

- I would have filled your mouth with pearls

for every verse you spoke and given you great fame.

- Fame is a breath on the wind.

There is no nourishment in pearls.

- Omar!

The Prophet has said the ink of the scholar

is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.

We honour the Prophet.

Go as you came, with your calendar.

- Make no excuses in the name of the Prophet,

nor for the sake of friendship,

for here all friendship ends.

(dramatic music)

- You let him go!

- Is there no penalty for those who will not join us?

- This is the better way.

He will return when he sees our victories.

Or if he abides by his loyalty

and remains with the Shah,

he will be killed by Prince Ahmud's levies.

(tense music)

- Omar, how do you come here?

- I rode to meet you as soon as I heard of your victory.

- Victory, but at what cost?

- The army is still coming ashore.

- Do you know about Ahmud's rebellion?

- I do, but where is Queen Sharain?

- She knew the women and royal children

would be taken hostage.

She moved them out of the city

with the help of the palace guard.

They are hiding in Kuchen.

- You're wounded.

- Not seriously, but my father is.

- Omar, my old friend.

Victory abroad and treachery at home.

Now you understand, my son,

why I judge loyalty and truth

to be the brightest of virtues.

Wherever you find them, reward them well.

To think that a son of mine

would rise against me.

That viper will not bite again

once I show myself in Nishapur.

- Your highness, Prince Ahmud's troops

have crossed the Khazvan Road.

- He's trying to cut us off from the army

and destroy us before we can reach the city.

- We must move on.

- My father, you have not the strength

to ride as fast as we must ride.

- Ahmud must be destroyed.

- Destroy the assassins, and you destroy Ahmud.

- Your counsel gave us victory over the Byzantines.

Malik, select your men.

Bring Queen Sharain to Alamut.

Ride on the wind, my son.

Bring my arm our!

My commanders!

We march against the assassins.

- Your highness, let the army follow

the road to Kashidir.

Order your commanders to meet us

at the fork to Alamut.

And bring the Byzantine prisoners.

I have a plan to use them.

(dramatic music)

- What is it?

- Omar is leading a scouting party into the valley.

- Yes, down there.

- The Grand Master should know about this.

(tense music)

- Here.

(indistinct)

- Instruments, calculations.

Why would they be digging into the rocks?

- I think I know.

(picks clinking)

- In a little while,

I shall be riding again.

- Rest yourself, rest yourself.

- Have you looked about the rock?

- We have, your highness.

We can make no assault up that narrow road.

- To attack, we need siege weapons, do we not?

Catapults, fighting towers.

- [Man Off screen] Above all, we need time.

- What is the report on that traitor,

my son Ahmud?

- He will come through the south gate tomorrow night.

- By that time, the rest of our army

will have arrived.

- What is left of them,

with two men dead out of every three,

and most of the others wounded?

- Your highness, Prince Malik is entering the camp.

- Malik.

Never was a son more welcome.

- They are all safe,

the children, the women, and Queen Sharain.

- We were almost ambushed by Ahmud's men.

- Omar, have you heard about Yaffa?

- Yaffa, what about her?

- She went with Hasani.

- Hasani, why?

- I do not know.

- And you will take me to a place

where I can overlook the attack,

and you will carry out my orders.

- Attack?

Under what foolish advice

did you make the move here, your highness?

- On Omar's advice.

You had a plan, you said.

- I also said that every stronghold has its weakness.

The rock may look solid,

but it is full of caverns, cracks, fissures.

Moreover, it sweats an oil, naphtha.

The assassins use it for their lamps.

It seeps up, then drains down again,

forming pools within the rock.

That I've seen for myself.

Before dark, I made observations from different angles.

My calculations show

that a passage driven through a fall of loose rock

on this side will reach the lowest of the caverns.

In that cavern, there must be a great pool of naphtha.

- Your plan is to fire the oil and smoke them out?

- That, and more than that.

- Go on, go on.

- The rock is limestone.

Limestone and naphtha make Greek fire,

that weapon of terror from ancient times.

It will fly up through the rock,

following every runnel of naphtha.

- But they have water to stop it.

- Greek fire cannot be quenched with water.

But the assassins will surely try it.

Then the air of the caverns,

which is laden with fumes from the naphtha

and dust from the limestone will explode,

and the very walls will burst.

- So this is your plan.

I cannot stay to fight this

last battle for the Persia we have built.

In my place, I give you my son, Malik.

Be loyal to him as you have been to me.

- My loyalty to Malik.

- Life and loyalty to Malik.

- I pledge my loyalty, my life to Malik.

(solemn music)

- Omar, think how sultan after sultan,

with his pomp

abides his destined hour

and goes his way.

(solemn music)

(singer vocalising)

- Here. - Bring them in.

Dig there.

(sticks thudding)

- There's no doubt.

They're tunnelling up to come at us.

- He must've found out about the cave

sealed off by the Romans,

but we can stop him.

We can break through the walls,

make our way down and hold him off 'till Ahmud

is ready to attack.

Order the men to start at once.

(gong sounds)

- Ready, Grand Master.

- Man your posts.

(sticks thudding)

(wall cracking)

(children chattering)

- How our lives change day by day.

- What will you do now, return to your father?

- What can I do?

Tradition demands that the widow of a Shah

spend the rest of her life in seclusion,

grieving at her loss.

What does it matter?

Tomorrow we may both be dead.

- If my reckoning is right,

none will die except the assassins on the rock.

- The assassins and your slave girl.

- Could it be that she went with Hasani to help you,

afraid that he might take your life as well as Nizam's?

(pigeons cooing)

- To think that my fate depends on these little birds.

Couriers that carry messages to my son Ahmud

to tell him where best to strike.

What do you see?

- Omar.

- You would go to him if you could.

- He is my master.

- He was your master.

There is no way down for you.

- I thought I knew why Hasani brought me here,

but I'm not so sure anymore.

What happened between you and Omar

while I was locked away?

- He is a man to remember.

- This I remember,

on his shoulder is an old wound from a Khiva arrow.

He cannot sleep on that side.

- He has a wound.

I do not remember which is the shoulder.

- His honey skin is smooth.

He has no wound!

You say he is a man to remember,

but the royal Khazar has less to remember than I,

a woman who was bought for him.

- Tomorrow your poet will make no more verses.

(pigeons cooing)

- Omar, are you still convinced your plan will work?

- Yes, yes.

- Send a message to Prince Ahmud

for him to strike the moment he arrives

and not to wait until the morning.

To be sure it reaches him,

send three birds, each with the same message.

And hurry, hurry!

(dramatic music)

(wings flapping)

(Yaffa screams)

- No, no!

Stop, oh!

Stop it!

Stop!

I know what my fate will be,

but now I've let loose your pigeons and made you dumb!

You can only watch and wait until you're destroyed!

(dramatic music)

- [Hasani] Stop her!

(Yaffa screaming)

- They have never killed a woman before.

- Look in the sky tonight, your highness.

You will see that heaven has lit a new star.

Let us bury her here. (solemn music)

And tomorrow we will bring that rock down

to mark the place.

(dramatic music)

(sticks clanging)

That must be the last barrier.

Keep them digging.

(indistinct)

(sticks clanging)

- Down there.

(hooves thundering)

Ahmud's troops.

Dispatch a courier to him

to move against the Shah at once.

- Omar, Ahmud is coming into the valley!

You see?

Prince Ahmud's troops are making camp down there.

But we've sent out scouts and patrols.

No message can reach him from the rock.

- Omar, his highness wishes

to talk with you in council immediately.

- Of this I am sure.

Ahmud will attack in the morning

unless we strike first.

- Time is short, your highness.

What is your plan?

- My father once said when you attack downhill,

your weight and strength are doubled.

Ahmud lies below us.

At dawn let us take three columns of heavy cavalry,

go in like spearheads, each from a different point,

cut our way to the tents of my brother

and his rebellious commanders,

capture or kill them,

and raise our standards above theirs.

- A sign to the enemy soldiers

that they have lost their leaders.

- When the sun's first rays

strike the gold dome on the rock,

let that be your signal.

- Once again, we shall make up for numbers

with boldness and surprise.

- We will, your highness. - We will, your highness.

- There can be no victory

unless the assassins are also destroyed.

- Your friend Hasani with them?

He was your friend, was he not?

- So was the Nizam, whom he had murdered.

The threefold friendship of a lifetime is now ended.

If at dawn, some miracle

seems to save Hasani's life, your highness, forgive me.

It will be only my mathematics gone awry.

(solemn music)

- My father chose you to stand in the place of my mother.

I love and honour his choice.

But tell me this,

would you give up your queenly place in court

for Omar Khayyam?

If I am still alive tomorrow,

I shall make a royal decree

and release you to him.

(dramatic music)

- Let me know when you break through.

- Right.

(hammers slamming stone)

- The rope! (dramatic music)

Zoodbach, Zoodbach, Zoodbach!

(stone crashing)

(soft music)

- Omar, his highness has told me

that he intends to make a royal decree, that we may...

- I will not believe it is our fate to die here.

I have done all I can with geometry and mathematics.

Now you must help.

You once prayed that we might be together

in the sweet paradise of your garden.

This is the time to say that prayer again.

- I will, Omar, with all my heart.

When we kiss again, it shall be there.

- [Man] Omar, Omar, we have broken through!

- Now say your prayer.

(soft music)

(liquid dripping)

- You thought to find a great lake of naphtha here.

I see none.

- Some of these pools must be several hundred feet deep.

(dramatic music)

- Ah!

- The torch!

Look out!

(flames roaring)

- Water!

Water, water!

(dramatic music)

- There's our signal, forward.

(people shouting)

- Oh! (dramatic music)

(flames roaring)

- Water, water!

(people shouting)

- More limestone!

Back!

(flames blasting)

More limestone!

(explosion booming)

- Where is my son?

- He will be with us soon.

In here, you will be safe.

- Hasani, I'm frightened, I'm frightened!

- Zarada, you're a queen.

We will never be beaten.

(dramatic music)

(rocks booming)

(people shouting)

(explosions booming)

(dramatic music)

(explosions booming)

(people screaming)

(explosion booming)

(dramatic music)

(Zarada screaming)

(triumphant music)

(crowd cheering)

(romantic music)

- Ah, my beloved.

Let other men repeat

how time is slipping underneath our feet.

Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday,

why fret about them if today be sweet?

And when yourself

with shining foot shall pass

among the guests star-scattered on the grass,

and in your joyous errand reach the spot where I made one,

turn down an empty glass.

(joyful bold music)