A Study of Iranians’ Innovations in Pharmacology from Jondi Shapur to Shiraz School

• Main Authors: Mohtaram Hemmati, Ahmad Fazlinejad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences 2018-08-01
• Series: Journal of Research on History of Medicine
• Subjects: Pharmacology; Jondi Shapur; Al Booyeh; Fars; Shiraz School
• Online Access: http://rhm.ir/index.php/rhm/article/view/422

Iranians were one of the first nations who made great efforts in medicine and the treatment of diseases and ailments and improved their knowledge and awareness in this field through the passage of time. The religious and mythological books of Iran refer to some physicians who used herbs for the treatment of the patients. To study and improve their knowledge of medicine, Iranians established the first medical centers like university and hospital of Jondi shapur, and they tried to present their breakthroughs in the field of medicine and treatment through the translation of the books of other nations, educating physicians, and interaction with the other countries of that time. Subsequently, some people even preferred the treatment methods of the physicians of Jondi shapur to Indian and Greek ones’. After Islam, some Iranian families like Baqtiashu found their way to Bani Omaye and Bani Abbas caliphates’ courts, owing to their knowledge of medicine and their special capabilities in the realm of sciences. These people also played a big role in the translation movement. While providing medical services and curing the caliphates’ diseases, Iranian physicians also wrote some books on medicine and treatment and it was through this action that countless Iranian names of medical herbs were introduced in the pharmacology books of the Islamic era. And later these books became the basis for Islamic medicine. In the reign of Al Booyeh, thinkers like Mohammad Ibn Zakaria Razi and Ali Ibn Abbas Majoosi made new discoveries in the science of medicine and also in the treatment methods and making of drugs - an unprecedented discovery which had not been made before that time. Additionally, in this period, we can see the formation of Medical School of Shiraz by some scholars like Abu Maher Shirazi. This research, through a descriptive- analytical method and based on the original scientific and historical sources, tries to describe the role of Iranians in development and innovation in the field of drugs from Jondi Shapur School to Shiraz School in Al Booyeh period.