Francesca Romana Romani
Section of History of Medicine Dept. Experimental Medicine and Pathology University of Rome "La Sapienza", I
Keywords:
Islamic Hospitals , Bimaristan , Islamic medicine
Abstract
In this paper a new perspective is proposed regarding the most relevant factors in the origin and the first developments of the Islamic hospitals in Abbasid Baghdad. Notably, the importance of the Persian contribution to the foundation of the first hospitals is questioned and a major focus is put on the role of Eastern Christian assistential institutions. The rise of the Islamic hospital is reconsidered in the frame of the wider process of urbanisation in the first Abbasid century. The Islamic bimaristan brought about a new concept of assistance by offering a medical cure rather than care.
