Academy of Gondishapur

Short description: Sasanian center of education in Iran

Academy of Gondishapur

فرهنگستان گندی‌شاپور

Archeological site of Gondishapur

Established| 240–270 AD
Founder| Shapur I
Location|

Gundeshapur

Khuzestan

Iran

The Academy of Gondishapur or Academy of Jondishapur (Persian: فرهنگستان گندی‌شاپور, Farhangestân-e Gondišâpur), also known as the Gondishapur University, is a Sassanid-era center of education and academy of learning in Khuzestan, Iran. With a history spanning more than 1,700 years, it also included a hospital and a library.[1][2][3][4] Since its activity was interrupted several times throughout history, Gondishapur is considered the oldest known university in terms of historical origin, while Al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco remains as the world’s oldest continuously operating university.[5][6] Founded by the Sassanid king Shapur I, Gondishapur first offered education and training in medicine, philosophy, theology and science.

The modern concept of a hospital as a center for both treatment and medical training took shape here, giving Gondishapur significant influence over the history of medical science. The academy’s hospital was the most important medical institution in the ancient world during the 6th and 7th centuries AD.[7] The distinguished historian of science George Sarton called Jundishapur “the greatest intellectual center of the time.”[8]

In 1955 under the Pahlavi dynasty, the Academy received a twin with the establishment of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, near the city of Ahvaz. During the Iran–Iraq War in 1980s, Mostafa Chamran used parts of the university as his command base. After his death, in honor of his bravery and sacrifices, the Ahvaz Jundishapur University was renamed to Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, while the main university kept its ancient name Gondishapur.[9] The university's original campus is now an archaeological site, while it continues to operate under the same name in its modern building.[10] Today, the Gondishapur and Shahid Chamran Universities operate 3 campuses,[11] 9 schools,[12] 15 colleges,[13] and more than 65 hospitals.[14]

## Contents

* 1 Name and archaeology
* 2 History
* 3 The world’s first center for maritime diseases
* 4 Significance of Gondeshapur
* 5 Gondeshapur after Islam
* 6 Famous physicians of Gondeshapur
* 7 Modern Gondeshapur
* 8 Gallery
* 9 See also
* 10 Notes
* 11 References
* 12 External links

## Name and archaeology

Gondishapur reached the height of its flourishing during the reign of Khosrow I (r. 531–579 AD)

According to Richard Frye, the name Gundishapur is a corrupted form of Veh-Andiukh-Shapur, meaning “Better than Antioch, built by Shapur.” According to most sources on the history of medicine in the Islamic era, this scholarly center played a significant role in transmitting Greek, Iranian, and Indian medical knowledge into the Islamic world. The first hospitals of the Islamic period were established based on the model of the Gundishapur hospital. Nevertheless, the available historical information is insufficient to present a precise picture of the city’s scientific and cultural conditions. What Islamic-era sources recount about its scholarly past often borders on legend. Modern research as well sometimes contains unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims, making it very difficult to determine the accuracy of this information.

Ibn al-Nadim writes that Ardashir I collected all remaining scattered ancient Persian books from India and China and added them to the royal treasury. His son, Shapur I, continued this path, gathering all texts that had been translated into Middle Persian from other languages. He also compiled the Avesta into a single book, thus restoring it after Alexander had burned it. Another library built during this period was the library of Khosrow I in Gundishapur, created for the university. His well-known passion for collecting books from the farthest regions of the world enriched it greatly. Gundishapur became the finest research center of the Sassanid era. Many scholars of diverse backgrounds—especially Nestorians—gathered there, and numerous works were translated into Persian by order of Khosrow I. Besides these two libraries, other large and reputable libraries also existed; every fire temple and shrine, as well as all hospitals, research institutions, and educational centers, maintained their own collections of books.

## History

Faculty of Computer Engineering and IT, Gondishapur University.

In 489 AD, the East Syriac Christian theological and scientific center in Edessa was ordered closed by the Byzantine emperor Zeno, and was transferred and absorbed into the School of Nisibis in Asia Minor,[15] also known as Nisibīn, then under Persian rule. Here, Nestorian scholars, together with Hellenistic philosophers banished from Athens by Justinian in 529, carried out important research in medicine, astronomy, and mathematics.[16]

However, it was under the rule of the Sassanid emperor Khosrau I (a.d. 531-579), known to the Greeks and Romans as Chosroes, that Gondeshapur became known for medicine and learning. Khosrau I gave refuge to various Greek philosophers and Syriac-speaking Nestorian Christians fleeing religious persecution by the Byzantine Empire.[17] 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.

A hospital in Ahvaz, affiliated with the Gondishapur University of Medical Sciences.

Khosrau I also turned towards the east, and sent the 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.

Emperor Khosrau I commissioned the refugees to translate Greek and Syriac texts into Middle Persian. They translated various works on medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and useful crafts.

A Church of the East monastery was established in the city of Gondishapur sometime before 376/7. By the 6th century the city became famed for its theological school where Rabban Hormizd once studied. According to a letter from the Catholicos of the East Timothy I, the Metropolitanate of Beth Huzaye took charge of both the theological and medical institutions.[18]

Although almost all the physicians of the medical academy were Persians, yet they wrote their treatises in Syriac, because medicine had a literary tradition in Syriac.[19]

## The world’s first center for maritime diseases

## Significance of Gondeshapur

> [T]o a very large extent, the credit for the whole hospital system must be given to Persia.[20]

— Cyril Elgood, A Medical History of Persia

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).[21] While there are no extant records relating to mathematical activities in Gondeshapur, it is probable that works on mathematics were translated there alongside texts from other disciplines.[22]

## Gondeshapur after Islam

In 832 AD, Caliph al-Ma'mūn bolstered the famous House of Wisdom. There the methods of Gondeshapur were emulated; indeed, the House of Wisdom was staffed with graduates of the older Academy of Gondeshapur.

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.[23] The last known head of Gundeshapur's hospital died in 869 AD.[24]

## Famous physicians of Gondeshapur

* Borzūya
* Bukhtishu
* Masawaiyh
* Sarakhsi
* Sabur ibn Sahl
* Nafi ibn al-Harith

## Modern Gondeshapur

Talat Basari was appointed vice chancellor of the university, the first woman to reach such a post in any Iranian university.

Under the Pahlavi dynasty, the heritage of Gondeshapur was memorialized by the founding of the Jondishapur University and its twin institution Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, near the city of Ahvaz in 1955.

The latter-day Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences was founded and named after its Sassanid predecessor, by its founder and first Chancellor, Dr. Mohammad Kar, Father of Cyrus Kar, in Ahvaz in 1959.

The first woman to be appointed as vice-chancellor in a university in Iran, Dr. Tal'at Basari, was appointed at this university in the mid-1960s, and starting 1968, plans for the modern campus were designed by famed architect Kamran Diba.[25]

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.

## Gallery

*   *   *   *

## See also

* Nizamiyya

## Notes

1. ↑ Daneshfard, Babak; Naseri, Mohsen; Ghaffari, Farzaneh (2022-08-16). "Medical education in the first university of the world, the Jundishapur Academy". Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 11 (8): 4267–4272. doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2449_21. ISSN 2249-4863. PMID 36353031.
2. ↑ "Academy of Gondi-Shapur". 2022-01-15. https://www.tanaffosjournal.ir/article_241225_9dfd14a004427f8b107a7d98042334ad.pdf.
3. ↑ "Oldest Universities in the World: Education through History" (in en). https://cancanit.com/oldest-universities-in-the-world/.
4. ↑ "Academy of Gondi-Shapur". 2025-05-02. https://www.tanaffosjournal.ir/article_241225_9dfd14a004427f8b107a7d98042334ad.pdf.
5. ↑ Presstv (2025-05-30). "Discover Iran: Gondishapur, the site of world's first university and cradle of medical science" (in En). https://599046384.r.worldcdn.net/Detail/2025/05/30/748906/Discover-Iran-Gondishapur-the-site-of-world-s-first-university-and-cradle-of-medical-science.
6. ↑ "Medical education in the first university of the world, the Jundishapur Academy" (in en). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363514241.
7. ↑ Vol 4, p396. ISBN 0-521-20093-8
8. ↑ Brickman, William W. (1961). "The Meeting of East and West in Educational History". Comparative Education Review 5 (2): 85. doi:10.1086/444875. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/444875?journalCode=cer.
9. ↑ SNN.IR, خبرگزاری دانشجو | (2018-08-06). "تغییر نام یک دانشگاه به پاس بزرگداشت نام و خاطره شهید چمران/ دانشگاهی که بزرگترین دانشگاه پزشکی جهان بود" (in fa). https://snn.ir/fa/news/702018/تغییر-نام-یک-دانشگاه-به-پاس-بزرگداشت-نام-و-خاطره-شهید-چمران-دانشگاهی-که-بزرگترین-دانشگاه-پزشکی-جهان-بود.
10. ↑ "صفحه اصلی" (in fa-IR). https://www.jsu.ac.ir/.
11. ↑ FarhikhteganSharif (2025-05-24). "دانشگاه علوم پزشکی جندی شاپور اهواز" (in fa-IR). https://farhikhtegan-sharif.org/knowledge-base/دانشگاه-علوم-پزشکی-جندی-شاپور-اهواز/.
12. ↑ "دانشگاه شهید چمران اهواز 1404 + رشته ها، رتبه، امکانات و خوابگاه" (in fa-IR). 2023-11-01. https://irantahsil.org/دانشگاه-شهید-چمران-اهواز/.
13. ↑ "سامانه علمی سنجی وزارت علوم". https://usid.irandoc.ac.ir/University.php?id=41.
14. ↑ بخونم, چی (2021-09-08). "آشنایی با دانشگاه شهید چمران اهواز" (in fa-IR). https://www.chibekhoonam.net/blog/آشنایی-با-دانشگاه-شهید-چمران-اهواز/.
15. ↑ "University of Tehran Overview/Historical Events". http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/main-links/historical.htm.
16. ↑ Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3, p.4
17. ↑ History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. 2006. pp. 96. ISBN 978-9231032110.
18. ↑ Baum & Winkler 2010, p. 64
19. ↑ "SYRIAC LANGUAGE i. IRANIAN LOANWORDS IN SYRIAC – Encyclopaedia Iranica". http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/syriac-language-i.
20. ↑ Elgood, Cyril. A medical history of Persia, Cambridge University Press, 1951, p. 173
21. ↑ Joseph, George Gheverghese (1991). The crest of the peacock : non-European roots of mathematics. London: I. B. Tauris.
22. ↑ Joseph, George Gheverghese (1991). The crest of the peacock: non-European roots of mathematics. London: I. B. Tauris. pp. 26–27. https://archive.org/details/crestofpeacockno0000jose. "Early settlers included Roman engineers and physicians, and doubtless others who may have been acquainted with Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian mathematics. <…> While there are no extant records relating to mathematical activities in Jund-i-Shapur, we have evidence to indicate that during the reign of Shahpuhr I and later Khusro I, translations into Middle Persian (Pahlavi) were made in Iran from Greek and Sanskrit texts. It is more than likely that these included texts in astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences."
23. ↑ Template:Lands of the Eastern Caliphate
24. ↑ Alireza Shapour Shahbazi; Lutz Richter-Bernburg. GONDĒŠĀPUR. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gondesapur. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
25. ↑ "artnet AG Products - Investor Relations". http://www.artnet.com/investor-relations/products.

## References

* The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol 4, ISBN 0-521-20093-8
* Baum, Wilhelm; Winkler, Dietmar W. (2010). The Church of the East: A Concise History. London-New York: Routledge-Curzon. ISBN 9781134430192. https://books.google.com/books?id=CnSCAgAAQBAJ.
* Dols, Michael W. (1987). "The Origins of the Islamic Hospital: Myth and Reality". Bulletin of the History of Medicine 61 (3): 367–390. PMID 3311248.
* Frye, Richard Nelson. The Golden Age of Persia, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993.
* Hau, Friedrun R. "Gondeschapur: eine Medizinschule aus dem 6. Jahrhundert n. Chr.," Gesnerus, XXXVI (1979), 98-115.
* Piyrnia, Mansoureh. Salar Zanana Iran. 1995. Maryland: Mehran Iran Publishing.
* Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993. Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3

## External links

* Medicine in ancient Iran
* Jondishapur according to Ahvaz University
* Gundishapur according to jazirehdanesh(In Persian)
* imam khomeini hospital(Gundishapur medical center)

Template:Sasanian Empire

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