Academy of Gundischapur
Coordinates: 32 ° 17 ′ 0 ″ N , 48 ° 31 ′ 0 ″ E
The Academy of Gundischapur or Gondeschapur ( Persian فرهنگستان گندیشاپور, DMG Farhangestân-e Gondišâpur , Syrian Beth-Lapat ) was the intellectual center of the Sassanid Empire and existed from the 3rd to the 10th century.
The city of Gundischapur itself is located in what is now the province of Chuzestan in southwest Iran, not far from the Karun River .
General
The Gundischapur Academy was founded in 271 and housed the oldest known teaching hospital, library and academy . Subjects such as medicine , philosophy , theology, and sciences were taught at the academy . The academy used both Persian and Greek and Indian knowledge.
Under the rule of the Sassanid king Chosrau I Anuschirvan ("with the immortal soul"; 531-579) Gundischapur became a well-known center for medicine and science. Chosrau I gave asylum to numerous Greek philosophers, Aramaic Christians and Nestorian Christians who fled from religious persecution in the Byzantine Empire. The king commissioned the refugees to translate Greek and Aramaic texts into the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) language. Works from medicine, philosophy, astronomy and craft have been translated. The seven Neoplatonic philosophers who fled to Persia in 531, however, saw their hopes disappointed and returned to the Eastern Roman Empire as early as 532.
Chosrau sent the physician Burzoe to India to invite Indian and Chinese scholars to Gundischapur. They translated Indian texts on astronomy, mathematics, medicine and astrology as well as Chinese texts on herbal medicine and religion into (Middle) Persian. Burzoe is said to have translated the Panchatantra from Sanskrit into Persian, as well as Kalīla wa Dimna .
The importance of the Gundischapur Academy
The academy had a lasting influence on the development of the hospital system and on medical training. The students were trained not just by a medical professional, but by the whole faculty. In addition, the academy is said to have played an important role in the history of mathematics.
Well-known physicians who worked at the academy in Gundischapur (most of the physicians were Christians):
- Burzoe (6th century), physician and chief physician of Chosrau I.
- Abū Yūḫannā Māsawaih († after 813), also referred to as Mesuë Senior, pater , father of Yuhanna ibn Masawaih , Persian-Syrian scholar and doctor
- Gabriel ibn Bochtischu , († 828) Persian physician and promoter of translations
- Shapur ibn Sahl (9th century), physician and author of the first book on antidotes, entitled Aqrabadhin
- Ahmad ibn at-Tayyib as-Sarachsi (executed 899)
- Nafi ibn al-Harith († 670)
- Gabriel von Schiggar (early 7th century), personal physician Choraus II and his wife Schirin
The Academy of Gundishapur under Muslim rule
The Sassanid dynasty was subject to the Muslim armies in 642 AD. The academy survived the change of rulers and continued to exist as a Muslim educational institution for several centuries. However, after the establishment of the House of Wisdom in the Abbassid capital Baghdad in 832 AD by the caliph al-Mamun , the academy lost its importance. The House of Wisdom adopted the academy's methods and some scholars were poached. Both institutions were in competition, which the House of Wisdom was finally able to win. The academy was dissolved in the 10th century.
The " Shahid-Tschamran -Universität" in Iran , founded in 1955, was called Jondischapur University until 1982 , based on the Academy of Gundischapur.
literature
- The Cambridge History of Iran . Vol. 3-4, Cambridge 1983ff.
- George Ghevarghese Joseph: In his Crest of the Peacock . Princeton University Press, 2000 (with reference to the importance of the academy in the history of mathematics).
- Friedrun R. Hau: Gondeschapur. A medical school from the 6th century AD In: Gesnerus XXXVI / 1979, pp. 98–115.
- Heinz Herbert Schöffler: The Academy of Gondischapur. Aristotle on the way to the Orient . With a foreword by Friedrich Hiebel. 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1980 (= Logoi 5), ISBN 3-7725-0701-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gundolf Keil: Mesue. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. P. 979 f .; here: p. 979.