Arman Zargaran; PharmD, PhD
Associate Professor and Head, Department of History of Medicine, School of Persian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Iran and Türkiye: Contribution of Two civilizations in Developing Medical Sciences through History
Today's advances in medical science have been shaped by the efforts of great scientists of the past in ancient civilizations from ancient times to the present day. Iran and Türkiye are two neighboring countries with historical backgrounds, rooted in ancient times. Iran is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, dating back to the thousands of years and always named as Iran or Persia. The Persian empires in ancient times (pre-Islamic era) have always been considered great world powers, and in particular, during the time of the Achaemenids (550-330BCE), they formed the largest empire in the world, stretching from the borders of China and India to whole Middle East and borders of Greece and North Africa. In Islamic era, Persia was also a great player in the region as well. Iran (Persia) always played a great role in development and progress of sciences, in particular medical sciences. Persian civilization is not limited to current country of Iran, but also its heritages could be found in new contemporary born countries in the region like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, etc., in the atmosphere of old great Persia. Great scientists like Borzouyeh (6th century), Rhazes (865-925CE), Akhawayni (?-983CE), Avicenna (980-1037CE), Jorjani (1042-1147CE), etc. are some of the most outstanding scholars belonging to this civilization. Current Türkiye is also the host of many great civilizations in the era that was called Anatolia in the past history. Hittites was one of the oldest civilizations in that era dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE. Eastern parts of the Anatolia was mostly a part of the Persian civilization; but there were other great civilizations like Lydia (8th – 6th Centuries BCE). Later, there were the host of many of Empires Like Rome and Byzantium; and finally, Ottoman Empire as a Turkish Civilization was originated from this region and succeed to build a great Empire in Western Asia, Eastern Europe and North of Africa. Following this long history, New Türkiye was born from this historical civilization in 1923. There are many valuable Turkish physicians like Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu (1385–1468) and Gevrekzâde Hasan Efendi (1727–1801) who had great role in progress of medical sciences. Iran (Persia) and civilizations located in Türkiye region had always scientific and cultural relations during centuries in the history. These relations helped to both civilizations to develop scientific paradigms and achievements. In the 2nd History of Medicine Meeting: Entangled Histories: Contribution of Iran and Türkiye to the Development of Medical Sciences, we try to make a scientific platform for investigating the role of these two civilizations and their cooperations on development of medical sciences through history.