Ancient city of Harran Ruins - Sanliurfa

The Harran University, also known as the Madrasa of Harran, was a medieval institution of higher learning in Harran (in modern-day southeastern Turkey), active from the 8th to at least the 12th century and later briefly again in the 16th century. The university was the first Islamic institution of its kind, had a liberal intellectual environment and made Harran renowned as a center of science and learning. Translation activity at the university, particularly the translations of documents from

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

into Arabic, was historically important in regard to the transmission and preservation of classical Greek and Syriac learning.

History

The Harran University was founded by the Umayyad caliph Umar II in 717, who brought many scholars from other cities throughout the lands under his control and installed them in Harran. The university was the first Islamic institution of its kind and has sometimes been regarded as perhaps being the world's oldest university. The university had a liberal intellectual environment and studies were made of religious and intellectual traditions that would have been rejected as heretical in many other places in the world. As a result of the university, Harran reached international renown and flourished as a center of science and learning. The university enjoyed its golden age in the late 8th century and 9th centuries, particularly under the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (). At its height, more than 8,000 students gathered at the Harran University, educated in mathematics, philosophy, medicine, astrology, astronomy and natural sciences. Many prominent scholars of their age, including Al-Battani,

Jabir ibn Hayyan Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Arabic: , variously called al-Ṣūfī, al-Azdī, al-Kūfī, or al-Ṭūsī), died 806−816, is the purported author of an enormous number and variety of works in Arabic, often called the Jabirian corpus. The ...

and Thābit ibn Qurra, studied at the Harran University. The university was also an important site for translations of documents from

and

into Arabic and thus also an important institution in the history of transmission and preservation of classical Greek and Syriac learning. At some point,

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some i ...

was introduced to the university, though the precise timing is not clear. It might have been brought to Harran by Thābit ibn Qurra in the late 9th century, who could have learnt Neoplatonism in Baghdad. Alternatively, Neoplatonism might have been brought to Harran as early as the 6th century by Neoplatonists such as

Simplicius of Cilicia Simplicius of Cilicia (; el, Σιμπλίκιος ὁ Κίλιξ; c. 490 – c. 560 AD) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian i ...

, who fled persecution in the Byzantine Empire. Though having declined since the 9th century, the university remained active until at least the 12th century, when Harran was under the rule of the Zengid dynasty. It ceased operations at the latest in 1271, when Harran was severely damaged and abandoned. After the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

captured the region containing Harran, Sultan Selim I ({{Reign, 1512, 1520) repaired the university and made an attempt to revive it, though it declined in importance again after his reign.

References

Harran Ancient universities Islamic Golden Age Science in the medieval Islamic world Educational institutions established in the 8th century Education in the medieval Islamic world

History

See also

References