Academy of Gundishapur
Encyclopedia
The Academy of Gondishapur (in , Dânešgâh e Gondišâpur), also Jondishapur , was a renowned academy of learning in the city of Gundeshapur
during late antiquity
, the intellectual center of the Sassanid empire
. It offered training in medicine, philosophy, theology and science. The faculty were versed in the Zoroastrian and Persian traditions. According to The Cambridge History of Iran, it was the most important medical center of the ancient world (defined as Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East) during the 6th and 7th centuries.
was ordered closed by the Byzantine emperor
Zeno
, and transferred itself to become the School of Nisibis
, also known as "Nisibīn
, then under Persian rule with its secular faculties at Gundishapur, Khuzestan. Here, scholars, together with Pagan philosophers banished from Athens
by Justinian in 529, carried out important research in Medicine, Astronomy, and Mathematics".
However, it was under the rule of the Sassanid emperor Khosrau I
(531-579 AD), called Anushiravan literally "Immortal Soul" and known to the Greeks and Romans as Chosroes, that Gondeshapur became known for medicine and erudition. Khosrau I
gave refuge to various Greek philosophers, Syriac-speaking Christians and Nestorian Christians fleeing religious persecution by the Byzantine empire
. The Sassanids had long battled the Romans and Byzantines for control of present day Iraq
and Syria
and were naturally disposed to welcome the refugees.
The king commissioned the refugees to translate Greek and Syriac texts into Pahlavi. They translated various works on medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and useful crafts.
Anushiravan also turned towards the east, and sent the famous physician Borzouye
to invite Indian and Chinese scholars to Gondeshapur. These visitors translated Indian texts on astronomy, astrology, mathematics and medicine and Chinese texts on herbal medicine and religion. Borzouye is said to have himself translated the Pañcatantra
from Sanskrit into Persian as Kalila u Dimana.
AD. In 832
AD, Caliph
al-Ma'mūn
founded the famous House of Wisdom
. There the methods of Gundishapur were emulated; indeed, the House of Wisdom was staffed with graduates of the older Academy of Gondeshapur. It is believed that the House of Wisdom was disbanded under Al-Mutawakkil
, al-Ma'mūn's successor.
However, by that time the intellectual center of the Abbasid Caliphate had definitively shifted to Baghdad, as henceforth there are few references in contemporary literature to universities or hospitals at Gondeshapur. The significance of the center gradually declined. Al-Muqaddasi
's Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions (c. 1000 AD) described Gondeshapur as falling into ruins.
Under the Pahlavi dynasty
, the heritage of Gondeshapur was memorialized by the founding of the Jondishapour University and its twin institution Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, near the city of Ahvaz
in 1959.
The latter-day Jondishapour University of Medical Sciences was founded and named after its Sassanid predecessor, by its founder and first Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Kar, Father of Cambys Kar and Cyrus Kar
, in Ahvaz in 1959.
Jondishapur University was renamed to Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz
in 1981 in honor of Mostafa Chamran
.
It has been renamed again as Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
recently.
The first woman to be appointed as vice-chancellor in a university in Iran, Dr. Tal'at Basāri, was appointed at this university in the mid 1960s, and starting 1968, plans for the modern campus were designed by famed architect Kamran Diba
.
Ancient Gondeshapur is also slated for an archaeological investigation. Experts from the Archaeological Research Center of Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
plan to start excavations in early 2006.
Gundeshapur
Gundeshapur Gundeshapur Gundeshapur (Persian گندیشاپور, Gund-ī Shāh Pūr, Gondeshapur, Jondishapoor, Jondishapur, and Jondishapour, Gundishapur, Gondêšâpur, Jund-e Shapur, Jundê-Shâpûr, etc...
during late antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, the intellectual center of the Sassanid empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. It offered training in medicine, philosophy, theology and science. The faculty were versed in the Zoroastrian and Persian traditions. According to The Cambridge History of Iran, it was the most important medical center of the ancient world (defined as Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East) during the 6th and 7th centuries.
History
In 489 AD, the Nestorian theological and scientific center in EdessaEdessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
was ordered closed by the Byzantine emperor
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
Zeno
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, and transferred itself to become the School of Nisibis
School of Nisibis
The School of Nisibis , for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa, was an educational establishment in Nisibis, modern-day Turkey. It was an important spiritual center of the early Syriac Orthodox Church, and like Gundeshapur, is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The...
, also known as "Nisibīn
School of Nisibis
The School of Nisibis , for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa, was an educational establishment in Nisibis, modern-day Turkey. It was an important spiritual center of the early Syriac Orthodox Church, and like Gundeshapur, is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The...
, then under Persian rule with its secular faculties at Gundishapur, Khuzestan. Here, scholars, together with Pagan philosophers banished from Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
by Justinian in 529, carried out important research in Medicine, Astronomy, and Mathematics".
However, it was under the rule of the Sassanid emperor Khosrau I
Khosrau I
Khosrau I , also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just...
(531-579 AD), called Anushiravan literally "Immortal Soul" and known to the Greeks and Romans as Chosroes, that Gondeshapur became known for medicine and erudition. Khosrau I
Khosrau I
Khosrau I , also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just...
gave refuge to various Greek philosophers, Syriac-speaking Christians and Nestorian Christians fleeing religious persecution by the Byzantine empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. The Sassanids had long battled the Romans and Byzantines for control of present day Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and were naturally disposed to welcome the refugees.
The king commissioned the refugees to translate Greek and Syriac texts into Pahlavi. They translated various works on medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and useful crafts.
Anushiravan also turned towards the east, and sent the famous physician Borzouye
Burzoe
Borzūya was a Persian physician in the late Sassanid era, at the time of Khosrow I.He translated the Indian Panchatantra from Sanskrit into the Middle Persian language of Pahlavi. But both his translation and the original Sanskrit version he worked from are lost...
to invite Indian and Chinese scholars to Gondeshapur. These visitors translated Indian texts on astronomy, astrology, mathematics and medicine and Chinese texts on herbal medicine and religion. Borzouye is said to have himself translated the Pañcatantra
Panchatantra
The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...
from Sanskrit into Persian as Kalila u Dimana.
Significance of Gondeshapur
In addition to systemizing medical treatment and knowledge, the scholars of the academy also transformed medical education; rather than apprenticing with just one physician, medical students were required to work in the hospital under the supervision of the whole medical faculty. There is even evidence that graduates had to pass exams in order to practice as accredited Gondeshapur physicians (as recorded in an Arabic text, the Tārīkh al-ḥukamā). Gondeshapur also had a pivotal role in the history of mathematics.Gondeshapur under Muslim rule
The Sassanid dynasty fell to Muslim Arab armies in 638638
Year 638 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 638 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* The Muslims capture Jerusalem and Akko.* In...
AD. In 832
832
Year 832 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German revolt against Louis the Pious, Emperor of the Franks....
AD, Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al-Ma'mūn
Al-Ma'mun
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...
founded the famous House of Wisdom
House of Wisdom
The House of Wisdom was a library and translation institute established in Abbassid-era Baghdad, Iraq. It was a key institution in the Translation Movement and considered to have been a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age...
. There the methods of Gundishapur were emulated; indeed, the House of Wisdom was staffed with graduates of the older Academy of Gondeshapur. It is believed that the House of Wisdom was disbanded under Al-Mutawakkil
Al-Mutawakkil
Al-Mutawakkil ʻAlā Allāh Jaʻfar ibn al-Muʻtasim was an Abbasid caliph who reigned in Samarra from 847 until 861...
, al-Ma'mūn's successor.
However, by that time the intellectual center of the Abbasid Caliphate had definitively shifted to Baghdad, as henceforth there are few references in contemporary literature to universities or hospitals at Gondeshapur. The significance of the center gradually declined. Al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
's Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions (c. 1000 AD) described Gondeshapur as falling into ruins.
Famous physicians of Gondeshapur
- Borzūya
- BukhtishuBukhtishuBakhtshooa Gondishapoori were Persian Nestorian Christian physicians from the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, spanning 6 generations and 250 years. Some of them served as the personal physicians of Caliphs. Jurjis son of Bukht-Yishu was awarded 10,000 dinars by al-Mansur after attending to his malady...
- MasawaiyhMasawaiyhYuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur...
- SarakhsiSarakhsiMuhammad b. Ahmad b. Abi Sahl Abu Bakr al-Sarakhsi was an important jurist, or Islamic scholar of the Hanafi school. He was traditionally known as Shams al-A'imma .-Background Information:...
- Sabur ibn Sahl
- Nafi ibn al-HarithNafi ibn al-HarithNafi ibn al-Harith bin Kalada al-Thaqafi was an Arab physician of the Banu Thaqif and was recommended by prophet Muhammad and treated Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, and when Abu Bakr was dying, he designated his illness as poisoning.Trained in Yemen ,, he is reported to have written a book named Dialog in...
Modern Gondeshapur
Pahlavi dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...
, the heritage of Gondeshapur was memorialized by the founding of the Jondishapour University and its twin institution Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, near the city of Ahvaz
Ahvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...
in 1959.
The latter-day Jondishapour University of Medical Sciences was founded and named after its Sassanid predecessor, by its founder and first Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Kar, Father of Cambys Kar and Cyrus Kar
Cyrus Kar
Cyrus Kar is an Iranian-born American film director, part-time professor at the University of Phoenix, and now-vindicated alleged terrorist who was captured by United States forces in Iraq on May 17,...
, in Ahvaz in 1959.
Jondishapur University was renamed to Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz
Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz
Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz is a major Iranian university in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran.The campus today has and houses 13 colleges. In 2010, 4798 students were enrolled.-History:...
in 1981 in honor of Mostafa Chamran
Mostafa Chamran
Mostafa Chamran Savei was an Iranian scientist who served as first Defence Minister of post-revolutionary Iran and as member of parliament, as well as commander of paramilitary volunteers in Iran–Iraq War. He was killed during the war...
.
It has been renamed again as Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences is a medical school in Khuzestan Province of Iran.Located in southwestern Iran in the city of Ahvaz, the university was established as a College of Medicine administered by the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in 1955, which itself was a revived...
recently.
The first woman to be appointed as vice-chancellor in a university in Iran, Dr. Tal'at Basāri, was appointed at this university in the mid 1960s, and starting 1968, plans for the modern campus were designed by famed architect Kamran Diba
Kamran Diba
Kamran Diba is a prominent Iranian architect, residing in Paris, France.He is famous for designing the new campus of Jondishapur University in Ahvaz, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran....
.
Ancient Gondeshapur is also slated for an archaeological investigation. Experts from the Archaeological Research Center of Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
plan to start excavations in early 2006.
See also
- Shahid Chamran University of AhvazShahid Chamran University of AhvazShahid Chamran University of Ahvaz is a major Iranian university in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran.The campus today has and houses 13 colleges. In 2010, 4798 students were enrolled.-History:...
(Jondishapur University before 1981) - Higher education in IranHigher education in IranIran has a large network of private, public, and state affiliated universities offering degrees in higher education. State-run universities of Iran are under the direct supervision of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and Ministry of Health and Medical Education .-Pre-Islamic...
- Nezamiyeh
- School of NisibisSchool of NisibisThe School of Nisibis , for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa, was an educational establishment in Nisibis, modern-day Turkey. It was an important spiritual center of the early Syriac Orthodox Church, and like Gundeshapur, is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The...
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