| Library Of Gundishapur |
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Founded in 271 CE by the Sassanid king Shapur I , Gondeshapur was home to the world's oldest known teaching hospital, and also comprised a Library and a University . It was located in the present-day province of Khuzestan , in the southwest of Iran , not far from the Karun river. The Manichean prophet Mani's imprisonment and death are also said to have taken place in Gondeshapur. THE RISE OF GONDESHAPUR Gondeshapur was one of the major cities in Khuzestan province of the Persian empire. The name Gondeshapur (Pahlavi ''Gund-ī Shāpūr'') comes from the compound term ''Gund-Dēz-ī Shāpur'' "Citadel of Shapur". Most scholars believe Shāpur I , son of Ardeshir (Artaxexes), to have founded the city after defeating a Roman army led by Emperor Valerian . Shāpur II made Gondeshapur his capital. However, a few scholars believe that there may have been a city at this location under the Parthian dynasty of what is now Iran proper and Khvarvaran province what is today known as Iraq . In 489 CE, the Nestorian established scientific center in carried out important research in Medicine, Astronomy, and Mathematics". ''(Hill, p.4)'' However, it was under the rule of the Sassanid monarch Khusraw (531-579 CE), called ''Anushiravan'' "The Blessed" and known to the Greeks and Romans as ''Chosroes'', that Gondeshapur became known for medicine and erudition. Khusraw I gave refuge to various Greek Philosopher s, Syriac-speaking Christians and Nestorian s 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. The philosophers are said to have been unhappy in Persia, however, and later returned to Greece. ''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 ''Kelile væ Demne''. SIGNIFICANCE OF GONDESHAPUR According to Cyril Elgood in ''A Medical History of Persia'', "to a very large extent, the credit for the whole hospital system must be given to Persia" (Cambridge University Press, p. 173). 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 ''Tarikhu l-Ħikama''). George Ghevarghese Joseph, in his ''Crest of the Peacock'' (Princeton University Press, 2000) claims that Gondeshapur also had a pivotal role in the history of mathematics. GONDESHAPUR UNDER MUSLIM RULE The Sassanid dynasty fell to Muslim Arab armies in 638 CE . The academy survived the change of rulers and persisted for several centuries as a Muslim institute of higher learning. It was later rivaled by an institute established at the Abbasid capital of Baghdad . In 832 CE , Caliph Al-Ma'mūn founded the famous ''Baytu l-Hikma'', the 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. According to LeStrange's 1905 compendium of Arab geographers, ''The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate'', the 10th century writer Muqaddasi described Gondeshapur as falling into ruins (LeStrange, 1905, p. 238). FAMOUS PHYSICIANS OF GONDESHAPUR
MODERN GONDESHAPUR Under the in 1981 in honor of Mostafa Chamran . The first woman ever 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 {Link without Title} . 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 {Link without Title} . SOURCES
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