Gondishapur School of Medicine: the most important medical center in antiquity

Abstract

Iran has a rich civilization and a long history during which medical science flourished at specific periods. For instance, medicine blossomed in Sassanids era (226 - 652 AD). One of the most remarkable cultural and scientific centers of Sassanids era was the city of Gondishapur located in the south-west Iran in Shah-Abad near Susa in Khuzestan Province. The city was rebuilt in the third century AD, whereupon it soon became the most important scientific focal point of the ancient world. Gondishapur Medical School was a renowned cosmopolitan institution and had a crucial impact upon the further development of Islamic medicine. Actually, at this school, the Greek, Persian, and Indian medical heritage was conserved, developed, and it was then transferred to the Islamic world and subsequently to the West. Gondishapur Hospital was also an excellent model for establishment of hospitals especially in the Islamic countries. Presented here is a brief account of the foundation of Gondishapur School of Medicine and its role in promoting medical science in antiquity.

Full text

Arch Iranian Med 2008; 11 (1):116 – 119
Archives of Iranian Medicine, Volume 11, Number 1, January 2008
116
Gondishapur School of Medicine: The Most Important Medical
Center in Antiquity
Mohammad-Hossein Azizi MD•*
Abstract
Iran has a rich civilization and a long history
during which medical science flourished at specific
periods. For instance, medicine blossomed in
Sassanids era (226 – 652 AD).
One of the most remarkable cultural and
scientific centers of Sassanids era was the city of
Gondishapur located in the south-west Iran in
Shah-Abad near Susa in Khuzestan Province. The
city was rebuilt in the third century AD,
whereupon it soon became the most important
scientific focal point of the ancient world.
Gondishapur Medical School was a renowned
cosmopolitan institution and had a crucial impact
upon the further development of Islamic medicine.
Actually, at this school, the Greek, Persian, and
Indian medical heritage was conserved, developed,
and it was then transferred to the Islamic world and
subsequently to the West. Gondishapur Hospital
was also an excellent model for establishment of
hospitals especially in the Islamic countries.
Presented here is a brief account of the
foundation of Gondishapur School of Medicine
and its role in promoting medical science in
antiquity.
Introduction
istorical documents demonstrate that
Iran has a long-standing history of
almost 3000 years,1 in which medicine
was highly respected. The history of medicine in
Iran is also as old as its civilization and is traced
back to pre-Islamic times.
As evidence reveals, prior to the foundation of
the two famous medical schools of ancient Greece
during the sixth century BC, at Cnidos in Asia
Minor and on the nearby Aegean island of Cos, the
practice of medicine was common in
Mesopotamia, India, and Iran.2 The oldest written
sources of our knowledge on Iranian medicine are
Avesta and other religious Zoroastrian texts
including Denkart and Bundahishn. They indicate
the significance of ancient medical beliefs among
Zoroastrians that were mainly focused on personal
hygiene, public health, and prevention of
contagious diseases.3,4 The ancient Persians who
lived in a vast territory with great variations in its
climate and vegetation soon became familiar with
various medicinal plants. Several medicinal herbs
such as basil, chicory, sweet violet, and peppermint
are mentioned in Avesta and the names of thirty
sacred medicinal plants are cited in Bundahishn.4–6
Historically, the first Iranian government was
founded by the Medes in 7th or 8th century BC.
They paved the path for subsequent empires
including the Achaemenids (559–330 BC),
Arsacids (250 BC – 226 AD), and the Sassanids
(226 – 652 AD).7, 8
During the Achaemenids era, Iran’s map was
very different from today. It was an empire
stretching from Indus valley in the east to the
Aegean Sea in the west.9 It is known that at that
time medicine became more developed in Iran
because of the close ties with the Greeks.10 The
Achaemenids founded various schools in their vast
kingdom including a medical school, which was
built in Sais in ancient Egypt by the order of
Daruis (r.521 – 485 BC).11 There were some Greek
and Egyptian physicians at the Achaemenids court
including one of the most famous Greek physician
Ctesias.12 Later on, during the Arsacids era, several
Greek books were translated into Persian
language.10
At the late Sassanids period, a considerable
scientific movement was started in Iran.13,14
History of Ancient Medicine in Iran
H
Author’s affiliation: *ENT Private Clinic, Tehran, Iran.
•Corresponding author and reprints: Mohammad-Hossein Azizi
MD, Second Floor, No. 6, Amir Ebrahimi St., Boostane 2,
Pasdaran Ave., Tehran, Iran.
Telefax: +98-212-253-4338, E-mail: f_azizi2000@yahoo.com.
Accepted for publication: 22 July 2007

M.H. Azizi
Archives of Iranian Medicine, Volume 11, Number 1, January 2008 117
The city of Gondishapur
The city of Gondishapur was located in
Khuzestan Province, in the south-west Iran and its
history reached back to prehistoric times. The
name of this city is mentioned in the great Persian
national epic—Shah Nameh (Book of Kings)—by
the poet Ferdowsi, (935 – 1020 AD).15
It was at that time one of the four major cities
of Khuzestan Province,16 which was reconstructed
by Shapur I, at the end of the third century AD. As
Dr. Nasr described “it was rebuilt shortly after he
defeated the Byzantine Emperor Valerian and
conquered Antioch”.17 He called it Veh-AZ-
Andev-Shapur meaning in Pahlavi language
“Shapur better than Antioch”. Then, it was
gradually changed to Gondishapur and in Arabic
Jundishapur. It was known as Beth Lapat in
Syriac.18
Shapur II (r.309 – 379 AD) made the city of
Gondishapur his capital and it rapidly became
famous as a center of science and culture as well as
the focus of Iran’s silk production.19–22
Gondishapur School of Medicine
The exact date of the foundation of
Gondishapur School is unknown, but most
investigators believe that it was established during
the Shapur II reign (309 – 379 AD). The school
was actually an important focal point of medicine
in ancient times and so known as the “city of
Hippocrates” (Ciuitus Hippocatica).23 At this
medical institution of antiquity, the Hippocratic
(460 – 377 BC) and the Galen’s traditions (130 –
199 AD), together with the rich Persian and Indian
medical heritage were combined, developed, and
subsequently transferred to the Islamic world.20
It was a cosmopolitan school attracting
physicians and scholars from several countries
including Egypt, Syria, India, Greece, as well as
Persia.24 These physicians not only valued the
works of their predecessors, but sought to add their
own original views.
The school was a flourishing center and its
activity was enhanced in the fifth century AD. As
Dr. Nasr has written: “it became further
strengthened after 489 AD when the School of
Edessa (in Arabic Alroha, now Urfa) was closed
by the order of the Byzantine emperor and its
physicians took refuge in the city”.18 It was a well-
organized institute based on scientific principles.
As Soylemez believes: “it functioned according to
the statement engraved upon its portal”25 i.e.,
“knowledge and virtue are superior to sword and
strength.”
The Sassanids Empire reached the peak of its
cultural blossoming under Khosrow Anoushiravan
(r.531 – 578 AD).12 He had a keen interest in the
school’s advancement and therefore a special
mission headed by Burzuyah (Perzoes in Latin),
the Iranian physician was dispatched to India to
obtain books on medicine and other subjects. On
his arrival, Burzuyah translated several Indian and
Sanskrit texts into Pahlavi language. In addition, in
550 AD the first medical symposium was held on
Anoushiravan’s order.26 In the 7th century AD (at
the time of the Islamic conquests), the
Gondishapur School was regarded as the most
important medical center of the ancient world.27
As an international center,28 non-Iranian
students were also enrolled at Gondishapur School
of Medicine, including the first Arab physician
“Harith Ibn- Kaldeh” who was from Taif in present
Saudi Arabia.2 The students were initially taught in
Greek or Syriac but later, during the sixth century
AD, Pahlavi language was also added to the
educational curriculum especially for teaching
pharmacology.10, 25
According to the Egyptian historian Ibn-Qefti,
(568 – 648 AH),29 the therapeutic approaches of
the Gondishapur physicians were considered more
advanced than the Greek and Indian methods,30
because of the development of a new system of
diagnosis and treatment that was developed there.
The physicians were required to pass special
examinations and obtain a license in order to
practice medicine.23
The most distinguished physicians of
Gondishapur were members of two Christian
Iranian families: Buhktishu (in Syriac means Jesus
had saved) and Masuyeh (in Latin Mesue). The
Buhktishu family practiced at the school for more
than two centuries.26
In 765 AD Jurjis Buhktishu, the chief of
Gondishapur Hospital was summoned to Baghdad
to treat the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansour. (d.158 AH
/775 AD), and so, an official connection between
the Gondishapur physicians and Baghdad was
established for the first time.2,4 Then, in subsequent
years, more medical scholars from Iran migrated to
Baghdad. They played an important role in the
development of Islamic medicine. They wrote a
variety of books on medicine and translated
medical Pahlavi and Syriac texts into Arabic. For
instance, Yuhanna, the son of Masuyeh was a
reputed physician who worked in Baghdad during

Gondishapur School of Medicine: the most important medical
center in antiquity
Archives of Iranian Medicine, Volume 11, Number 1, January 2008
118
the first half of the 9th century AD. He wrote the
first Arabic treatise on ophthalmology.17,25
At Gondishapur School, medical books
including Greek texts were translated into Syriac
or Pahlavi mostly by the Nestorian physicians.31,32
Hunayan-Ibn-Ishaq (808 – 873 AD), known as
Johannitus, was born in al-Hira in Iraq who studied
medicine at the Gondishapur School and then in
Alexandria. He was an active translator of Galen’s
medical works into Arabic.33, 34
Gondishapur School had a library with many
books in Pahlavi, Greek, and Syriac.35, 36
Gondishapur Hospital
Gondishapur Hospital is attested by some
authors as the first teaching hospital in the history
of medicine and the most celebrated Iranian
hospital.37 It was a well-organized medical institute
of ancient world operated by a director, medical
staff, pharmacist, and servants. Dr. C. Elgood
(1892 – 1970) wrote: “to a very large extent the
credit for the whole hospital system must be given
to Persia”. Afterward, the hospitals in the Islamic
world were established based on the Gondishapur
Hospital’s model.38 One instance that was
established in the 8th century AD was the first
medical center in Baghdad. Even the term
“Marestan” that entered the Arabic literature was
essentially the shorter form of a Persian word
“bimarestan” (hospital). Bimarestan is composed
of bimar (=sick, derived from the Pahlavi word
wemar) with the suffix—stan donating place.20,39,40
The activity of Gondishapur Hospital reached
its climax in the 6th century AD, continued at least
until 225 AH (869 AD), and ultimately it was
completely suppressed by immigration of
Gondishapur physicians to Baghdad.4, 26
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to express his gratitude to
Dr. T. Nayernouri, for reviewing the manuscript
and his useful comments.
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