The Place of Herbal Medicine in Iran's Traditional Medicine

Thanks to its climatic diversity and more than eight thousand plant species, Iran has long been a pioneer in using plants for treatment.

History and politics service of Sefir Arjan of Iran (Sefir Arjan), herbal medicine, which forms part of traditional Iranian medicine, has long been of interest to Iranians. As far as in the rural areas of Iran, a major part of the treatment of diseases is still done through this science. Iran has been one of the countries that has long pioneered the use of plants for treatment due to its climate diversity and the existence of more than eight thousand plant species. Some plants in Iran have a higher density and a wider distribution in the country, while some have a more limited distribution area.

The book "Traditional Iranian Medicine (Herbal Medicine)" with the subtitle Nutrition and Treatment with Desert Vegetables, Familiarity with Medicinal Plants and Tree Fruits, authored by Mohammad Jaafar Hosseini Shirazi, was published in three volumes by Arshadan Educational Institute.

In this book, after the introduction, Mohammad Jaafar Hosseini Shirazi has described traditional medicine, herbal medicine in Iran, the beginning of the history of medicine in Iran, and then described medicinal plants.

The author refers to the beginning of the history of medicine in Iran and writes: "Famous doctors of the first centuries, names such as Hanin bin Ishaq, Sahl bin Shapur, Isa bin Maharbakht, Isa bin Shahla Fa, Yohanna bin Sar Afion, David bin Sar Afion, as well as the members of the Bakhtishu'a and Masarjowieh families were generally from this university.

The mythical culture of the ancient Iranians can be seen in the collection of documents called Rigveda in India or Yasht in Iran, which is full of struggle and efforts to achieve blessings, wealth and peace, and in this regard, their gods have been the destroyers of misfortune, demons and the like.

In the beliefs of ancient Iranians, whether mythological (Yasht) or religious (Zoroaster), the world was the scene of the battle between the gods or Yazdan (the origin of all good deeds, blessings and health) with the origin of evil, demons and diseases (Ahriman).

Iran is the land of the formation of the first ancient civil societies and the communication highway of the authentic civilizations of history.

Mixing with the civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Chaldea, Assyria and Greece from the west and the civilizations of India and China from the east and Arab and Semitic civilizations from the south and European, Roman and Russian civilizations from the north made Iran the main crossroad of communication between cultures and civilizations.

The beginning of the history of medicine in Iran dates back to the period when the Aryans lived in their original hometown called Ariyavizh, near Khorezm and Pamir, where ten months of the year were cold and only two months were warm, and this may be seven thousand years before Christ.

The first Aryan physician is called Trita (Etret). As it is stated in Vendidad Fargard in paragraph twenty in part two one of this article as follows:

Who among the pious, the wise, the workers, the wealthy, the wise, the slanderers, the forerunners, is the first one to stop sickness, stop death, stop the wounds of spearmen, stop the heat of fever from people's bodies?

O spitman of Zoroastrianism, Trita among the pious... Pishdadians is the first one who restrained sickness, restrained death, restrained spear wound, restrained the heat of fever from people's bodies.

Also, from the contents of various Pahlavi language books, it is said that the first Aryan doctor was also involved in surgery, according to his servant:

Ahuramazda gave Trita an implanted heart with which to perform the surgery.

Trita was fully aware of the medicinal properties of various plants and especially prepared their extracts.

As it is stated in the Yesnay of section 9 of section 10:

The third Namor who pressed the Heuma plant and prepared its extract was Trita from the family of Sam, who was the owner of two valiant sons, one of whom became Arvakhshiya and the other who became Grhasab.

Trita's name has remained not only in Iranian medicine, but he is also the first known Aryan doctor in India, and from this it is clear that Trita lived when the Aryans of India and Iran were not separated and the medicine of the two neighboring tribes was related to each other.

After Trita, in the land of Aryavizh (the original birthplace of the Aryans) near Khwarezm and Pamir, in a place called Varimakert, an Aryan named Yema (Jamshid) succeeded in distinguishing the group of patients with skin, bone and dental diseases from many other patients from healthy people.

Of course, the first person in history who presented medicine in an orderly and codified manner and separated it from magic was Hippocrates, who has been called the father of medicine. (460-355 BC)

After Hippocrates, Galen (129-199 AD) founded a new school of anatomy, and his works became the basis of naturalists' opinions for a thousand years.

The basis of treatment method of Hippocrates and Galen was based on temperamental medicine, so some know the basis of temperamental medicine from Greece and called it Greek medicine.

But it is interesting to hear the speech of Mr. Cyril Algood, the author of the book "Medical History of Iran", who says on page 36 of this book: As far as the information obtained is known, the state of medicine in ancient Iran was more advanced than in Assyria. We can even boldly go further and say that the Iranians taught the principles of what is called Greek medicine to the Greeks.

Even the Greeks themselves recognized the hypothesis of their four natures as a foreign hypothesis and called it Iranian according to the custom of that time.

Dr. Najmabadi in his book History of Medicine in Iran also mentions this and admits that the Zoroastrian medical school existed in the world much earlier than the Greek medical schools.

However, there is no consensus among historians about the origin of temperamental medicine.

Later in ancient Greece, in the 4th century AD, people and doctors gradually abandoned the logical method established by Hippocrates and Galen and resorted to magic, exorcism and spells to treat diseases.

So that the method of Hippocrates and Galen was forgotten for many years. until during the Iran-Greece wars, the medical works of Hippocrates and other Greek physicians fell into the hands of the Iranians.

With the establishment of Jundishapour school and the translation of important works of Greek authors, with the help of Iranian scientists, the forgotten Greek medicine regained its path of perfection.

After the capture of Jundishapur by the Muslims, this city was still spared from damage and was still the largest center of medical education in all Islamic countries.

After Islam, with the translation of more Greek medical books, great Muslim scholars such as Muhammad bin Zakaria Zari and Ibn Sina appeared.

The scientific progress of Muslims in a short period of time surprised the world. So that at that time, every scientific seeker searched for his lost knowledge in Islamic countries.

While there were no hospitals in most places in Europe, and the treatment methods of doctors ended with magic and spells, etc., in the territory of the Islamic government, there were hospitals that had different departments with different specialties.

It is said that some of these hospitals had hot water piping such as a heating system to keep the patients' rooms warm.

It is also said that some of these hospitals had hot water piping such as a heating system to keep the patients' rooms warm.

It is also said that the hospitals had libraries, teaching halls and pharmacies separately. In addition, the system of establishing hospitals has been very advanced in such a way that they can be considered superior to the current system of establishing hospitals.

First of all, a hospital would not have been established unless the expenses of the patients and the hospital and the salaries of the doctors were probably financed from people's endowments and charities, not from the patients' pockets. Secondly, they have principles for the construction of the hospital building.

The editor of the story collection "Dawaze Khan" said: What does the term "anti-war" mean? If "anti-war" means against war, yes! We are definitely against war and are not warmongers. But if "anti-war" means anti-defense, no! We were not the country and nation that attacked, but we were the country that made martyrs from its highest officials to its ordinary people.

Iran was one of the countries that has been a pioneer in using plants for treatment for a long time due to its climate diversity and the presence of more than eight thousand plant species.

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