A Study of the Growth and Flourish of Gundishapur Scientific Centre in Sasanian Period

The Iranian-Islamic sources have testified to the importance of Gundishapour as the largest scientific center, having a medical school and one of the largest hospitals of ancient world in which renown physicians and the scholars of age, from various nationalities, were employed to teach, to do research, and to treat patients. In this scientific centre, Greek medicine linked with Indian medicine joined with Persian medicine. Various factors have influenced its growth, namely the Sasanian kings’ protection of medical practices as well as physicians, the closure of Edessa school in 489 A.D, and hence the migration of numerous scholars of this centre to Nisibis and Gundishapour and finally the closure of Athens school in 529 A.D by Justinian, leading to the migration of the scholars of Athens school to Iran. In this paper, by drawing on historical and geographical sources and following the descriptive- analytical manner, we have tried to study the impact the protection of Sasanian king of sciences, and that of the closure of Edessa and Athens schools on the growth of Gundishapour.