Gundeshapur

32.28333333333348.516666666667Koordinaten: 32 ° 17 '0 "N, 48 ° 31' 0" E

The city Gundischapur (Persian گندی شاپور, Middle Persian: why- ' andywk - shpwhry - the better Antioch Schapurs, Syriac: Beth- Lapat ) is located south of the village Schahadad in the north of present-day Iranian province of Khuzestan, about 10 km south- east of Dezful. She was one of the most important, perhaps the second largest city of the Sassanid Empire and seat of the Academy of Gundischapur, a cultural and scientific center of the pre-Islamic Persia.

History

The city was founded by Shapur I after the conquest of the Roman city of Antioch on the Orontes and also called Antioch Schapurs, where there are signs that this is not a complete foundation, but the renaming of an older city. In the city, many deportees were settled in Antioch. The city is, especially under Shapur I, have served as the winter residence of Sassanid. In Gundischapur probably also caught the Roman Emperor Valerian has died.

Gundischapur was the scene of numerous Christian and Manichaean martyrdoms. Here Mani and the Catholicos Simon died bar Sabba. The city was the seat of a Metropolitan, 484 here the doctrine of Nestorius was at the synod of Beth- Lapat defined as binding for Christians in the Persian Empire (see also Assyrian Church of the East).

The city existed until the Islamic period, but declined in importance. The last bishop in 1318 testifies.

Archeology

The city was never the goal of larger excavations. 1963, the site was briefly examined at a commission, which after all gave a rough idea of ​​the former appearance of the city. The ruins lay on an area of ​​about 3 x 2 km. The city streets were laid out like a chessboard, which may suggest a Greek foundation, was perhaps also the work of originating from Antioch residents of the city. This corresponds with the description of Persian geographers such as Hamzah al - Isfahani and Yaqut, who report that the city was in its length and breadth, crossed by eight streets that met at right angles.