“Dār al-ʿIlm Shāpūr” in Baghdad (383-451AH): its Influence on Development of the Knowledge in the 4th and 5th Centuries with an Emphasis on Medical science

The fourth and fifth centuries AH is the period of the domination of the Buwayhīd dynasty over the caliphate of Baghdad. This dynasty of Shiites was very interested in spreading knowledge in the countries under their control and devoted all their efforts to supporting scientists and promoting science. The most important examples of their support for science can be seen in Baghdad, as the center of the Islamic Caliphate. The kings and ministers of this government were very interested in promoting knowledge in all the known fields and areas of that time and were able to accelerate the scientific endeavors made in the time of Hārūn and Maʾmūn with more power. With the spirit of religious and scientific tolerance, to turn the “Dār al-ʿIlm”s as a historical continuation of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Ḥikma), into a safe place for research, study and teaching of scientists. In the meantime, some centers such as “Dār al-ʿIlm Shāpūr” became a suitable place for gathering the most important scientists of that time due to the efforts of the honorable founder and the trustees of its scientists. In addition to scientific discussions and debates, valuable works by scientists were made available to science seekers in the center’s extensive library. One of the sciences that was able to develop with the help of the administrative and scientific structure of “Dār al-ʿIlm Shāpūr” is medical knowledge. The large number of books preserved in that center, and especially the dedication of the important medical works of the great physicians of that time, had given it double importance. The present study is an attempt to analyze the prominent role of the library of “Dār al-ʿIlm Shāpūr” in the spread of knowledge -especially medicine- in the fourth and fifth centuries AH.