‫به نام خداوند بخشنده مهربان‬

Persian Medicine
Brief History
 Zahra Jafari; MD, PhD
Department of Persian Medicine,
Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences
 Aims of this Curse

 Introducing a brief history of Medicine in Iran

 Persian History

Before Islam Ancient Persia

Persian
History

After Islam Islamic Era

 Ancient Persia
Prehistoric era to 637AD
 Mythical era
 Threata: First Persian Physician and Surgeon in
Zoroastrian beliefs and mythology
 Jamasb: The first pharmacist in Persian medicine
(at least 5000 years ago)

Anesthethics:
Hemp : Bangha¯
(Cannabis sativa L.) Rostamineh
Opium poppy : Ga¯okerena¯ The first report of
(Papaver somniferum L.) Cesarean section
Henbane : Mang-i-Gasˇta¯spi
(Hyoscyamus niger L.)
Prehistoric Time
• Local civilizations (Susa, Sialk, Shahr Sukhteh,…)
First known artificial eye (eyeball)
(3000 BC)

A cranial trephination (2800 B.C.E.)

from Shahr-i Sokhta (‘‘Burned City’’).
3200–2000 B.C.E. : The operation was
probably used to treat hydrocephalus
Great Empires era
• Achaemenid Empire (550-330BC)
• Parthians (247BC-224AD)
• Sassanid Kingdom (224-637AD)
 Humoral Theory

Common English name Sassanid Pahlavic name Quality

Blood ͞Xon hot and wet

Phlegm Blagm cold and wet

Yellow bile Wiš i suxr hot and dry

Black bile Wiš i syā cold and dry

Persian Medical Council in Sassanid Era
• Prahoama syrup: The first Antidepressant drug
• The first description of pulmonary circulation
• Definition of Infection
• The role of Blood and circulation
• The first correct report of monthly menstrual cycle
• The first report of uterus contractions during NVD
Medical Ethics
Jondishapour University and Hospital

• Jondishapour University and Hospital

(3rd century to 9th century)

• The first modern teaching Hospital in

the history
 Islamic era
637 AD up to now

 First century: war and dark age of science

 Translation era: starting scientific movement based on
ancient Persian tradition
• Immigration of Jondishapour physicians to Baghdad
• The role of Iranian policymakers
• Translating Persian, Greek, Indian, Syrian, ect. Medical texts to
Arabic.
• Arabic: Lingua franca
 Islamic Golden Age (9-13thCentury)

 Flourishing Medical Sciences

• Based on Ancient Persian Tradition
• Mostly by Persian Scientists

 Public Health and Hospitals

 Medical Education and Schools (Beit ol-Hekmeh)

 Haly Abbas
(949-982)

Geber
(721-815)

Rhazes
(865-925)

Avicenna
(980-1032)
Jorjani
(1024-1137)
 Islamic Golden Ag
• The main paradigm of Medicine in the East
and the West

• Their books like Canon of Avicenna were

taught in Western Universities until 17th
century AD.

• The first pharmacopeias were written by

Persians
Mongol Attacks (13thcentury)
 Finishing Islamic Golden Age
 Everything was destroyed
 Up and down times
 Ilkhanid Empire

 1256-1335 AD

 Try to back to glorious time

 Medical Schools and Universities:

• Rabi Rashidi
 Safavid Era
 Stable and Powerful Governments

 Start to Challenge with Ottoman Empire

 Flourishing Art and Science

 Pharmacy

 Health and Medicine

 Qajr
• Decay Period (Qajar dynasty; the last days of Persian Medicine): 1789–1925 AD
 • The are too many innovations and inventions in
medical sciences and medical practice
• Progress of Medicine
700 natural monographs in De Materia
Medica (written by Greek physician Pedanius
Dioscorides in the 1st century AD)

More than 1700 monographes in Makhzan al-

Advieh (Storehouse of Medicaments; written
by Persian physician Aghili Khorasani-e Shirazi
in the 17th–18th century AD)
 References
 Moosavyzadeh A, Ghaffari F, Mosavat SH, Zargaran A, Mokri A, Faghihzadeh S, Naseri M. The medieval Persian manuscript of Afyunieh: the first
individual treatise on the opium and addiction in history. J Integr Med 2018;16(2):77-83.

 Soleymani S, Zargaran A. A Historical Report on Preparing Sustained Release Dosage Forms for Addicts in Medieval Persia, 16th Century AD.
Subst Use Misuse 2018 Feb 2 [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1432648.

 Tajik N, Zargaran A, Kermani-Alghoraishi M. The heart in embryology. Eur Heart J 2018;39(3):191-192.

 Khodaie SA, Ghaffari F, Naseri M, Zargaran A. Hakim Mohammad: A Persian Military Surgeon in Safavid Era (1501-1736 CE). World J Surg 2017 Dec
31. [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1007/s00268-017-4410-z.

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Court of Ottoman Sultans. Res Hist Med 2017;6(1): 53-60.

 Zargaran A, Zarshenas MM. The discovery of pulmonary circulation in ancient Persia. Eur Heart J 2016; 37(19):1491-2.

 Zargaran A, Borhani-Haghighi A, Faridi P, Daneshamouz S, Mohagheghzadeh A. A review on the management of migraine in the Avicenna's
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 Zargaran A. Jundishapour: Myth or Reality? Jundishapur Sci Med J 2016; 15(suppl. 2): 11-8.

 Zargaran A. Ancient Persian medical views on the heart and blood in the Sassanid era (224-637 AD). Int J Cardiol 2014; 172(2): 307-312.

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 Zargaran A, Ahmadi SA, Daneshamouz S, Mohagheghzadeh A. Ancient Persian Pharmaceutical Vessels and Tools in Iranian Archaeological
Museums. Pharm Hist (Lond.) 2012; 42(4): 68-71.

 Elgood C. Medical history of Persia and the Eastern Caliphate lands. Forghani B [translator]. Tehran: Amir Kabir Publications; 2007, pp. 23–5, 63.

 Tadjbakhsh H. History of Iran’s hospitals (from the beginning to the present day). Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies; 2000.

 Tadjbakhsh H. History of human and veterinary medicine in Iran. Tehran: Tehran University; 2000