title: Rabi Rashidi (Rashidi Quarters): a late thirteen to early fourteenth century Middle Eastern Medical School.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Following the Mongolian invasion of the Middle East in the thirteenth century, a regional power called the Ilkhanid emerged and was ruled by the heirs of Temujin from Mongolia. Embracing present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, areas of Russia, Turkey, and Pakistan, and nearby Middle Eastern territories, the Ilkhanid state patronized medicine and various other professions. Centered in Tabriz (Tauris), a city in the northwest of present-day Iran, was a non-profit-making educational and medical complex founded by Grand Minister Rashid al-Din Fazlollah Hamadani.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper reviews the literature regarding the rise and fall of the thirteenth century university and the Rabi Rashidi, emphasizing the structure of its medical school.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The background training of Rashid al-Din and his keen interest in science turned this complex, Rabi Rashidi (literally meaning the Rashidi Quarters), into a cosmopolitan university that freely trained medical scholars nationally and internationally. The possibility that Rashid al-Din was inspired by university developments in Europe is discussed.
authors: Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors: Feridoon
authors: F
authors: Abbasnejad
authors: Mohammadali M
authors: MM
authors: Shoja
authors: Paul S
authors: PS
authors: Agutter
authors: Farid
authors: F
authors: Alakbarli
authors: Marios
authors: M
authors: Loukas
authors: Ghaffar
authors: G
authors: Shokouhi
authors: Majid
authors: M
authors: Khalili
authors: R Shane
authors: RS
authors: Tubbs
mesh_terms: D004501:Education, Medical / Q000266:history*; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008877:Middle East; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000266:history*