Translation Activities at Dar al-`ilm (The House of Knowledge) or Dar al-Tarjamah (The House of Translation) in Gondesaphur and the Influence of Translations on the Persian and Arab World

Abstract

If the Alexandrian school was an important centre of culture and science in the Antique Age, the Gondesaphur Academy (or School) was the most important intellectual centre in the Medieval Age because the city of Gondesaphur, located in the south-west Iran in Khuzestan Province, had a particular importance as a city and as a centre of cosmopolitan culture. Between the fifth and ninth centuries, Gondesaphur became a centre of translations of classics and works on medicine, astronomy, astrology and other fields. Important works, especially on medicine, were translated from Sanskrit and Greek into Pahlawi, and then into Arabic at Dar al-‘ilm (The House of Knowledge) or Dar al-Tarjamah (The House of Translation) in Gondesaphur and these translations influenced the Persian and Arab world and science a lot. The translations of the Panchatantra, an Indian collection of stories; Kalila wa Demna and the Almagest of Ptolemy can be cited as some important works done in Gonesaphur. The aim of this study is to give information about the Gondesaphur Academy (or School), to examine the translation activities in Gondesaphur and the influence of these translations on the Persian and Arab world.

Keywords

• Translation
• Gondesaphur
• Gondesaphur Academy
• Dar al-‘ilm

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