Gondeshapur

Centre of learning of the Sasanid empire.

The history and contribution to science of the Persian empires have not been dealt with properly in this lecture series so far and remain a task for a revised edition. Very briefly,

• the history of the great Persian empire began with Cyrus the Great, who established the Achaemenid dynasty in 559 BC. Its society was structured into four classes (priests, warriors, peasants and merchants) and followed the moral teachings of Zoroastrianism.
• In 330 BC the Achaemenid empire was conquered by Alexander the Great, who introduced Hellenism into the country.
• This was followed by the Parthian empire from 247 BC, which continued the Hellenistic tradition until 224 AD, when the Sasanids took power.
• Under the Sasanids, who ruled from 224 until the Arab conquest of 651, Persia witnessed a return to Achaemenid culture and Zoroastrian values.

Gondeshapur was the intellectual centre of the Sasanid empire. Its Academy offered medical training, philosophy, theology and science based on Zoroastrian thought and Greek and Indian science texts. Before the rise of Arab science the Academy of Gondeshapur was the leading science centre of the Middle East and was visited by students from all parts of the world.

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