page_title: Khosrow I
section_title: Academy of Gondishapur
hierarchical_section_title: Khosrow I / Philosopher King / Academy of Gondishapur
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a old artwork of Khosrau I, also known as Anushirvan with his physician, Borzuya.
context_page_description: Khosrow I, traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531 to 579. He was the son and successor of Kavad I.
  Inheriting a reinvigorated empire at war with the Byzantines, Khosrow I made a peace treaty with them in 532, known as the Perpetual Peace, in which the Byzantine emperor Justinian I paid 11,000 pounds of gold to the Sasanians. Khosrow then focused on consolidating his power, executing conspirators, including his uncle Bawi. Dissatisfied with the actions of the Byzantine clients and vassals, the Ghassanids, and encouraged by the Ostrogoth envoys from Italy, Khosrow violated the peace treaty and declared war against the Byzantines in 540. He sacked the city of Antioch, bathed in the Mediterranean Sea at Seleucia Pieria, and held chariot races at Apamea where he made the Blue Faction—which was supported by Justinian—lose against the rival Greens. In 541, he invaded Lazica and made it an Iranian protectorate, thus initiating the Lazic War. In 545, the two empires agreed to halt the wars in Mesopotamia and Syria, while it waged on in Lazica. A truce was made in 557, and by 562 a Fifty-Year Peace Treaty was made.
context_section_description: Khosrow I is known to have greatly expanded the Academy of Gondishapur, located in the city of Gundeshapur. As to the development of non-religious knowledge and research in Iran and apart from historical evidence given on such traditions in the preceding Iranian Empires, there are reports on systematic activities initiated by the Sasanian court as early as in the first decades of Sasanian rule. The Middle Persian encyclopaedia Denkard states that during the reign of Shapur I writings of this kind were collected and added to the Avesta. And an atmosphere of vivid reflection and discussion at the early Sasanian court in the third century AD is reflected in such accounts.
  The foundation of the Academy of Gondishapur introduced the studies of philosophy, medicine, physics, poetry, rhetoric, and astronomy into the Sasanian court. According to some historical accounts, this famous learning center was built in order to provide a place for incoming Greek refugees to study and share their knowledge. Gundeshapur became the focal point of the combination of Greek and Indian sciences along with Iranian and Syriac traditions. The cosmopolitan which was introduced by the institution of Gondishapur became a catalyst for modern studies.
caption: Khosrow I and Borzuya, the translator of the Indian Panchatantra
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