A Study of the Transmission and Transformation of Hospital Traditions from Byzantine Civilization to the Islamic World (Seventh to Twelfth Centuries CE)

Abstract

The present study examines the transmission and transformation of hospital traditions from Byzantine civilization to the Islamic world between the seventh and twelfth centuries CE. As a therapeutic, charitable, urban, and educational institution, the hospital emerged within the historical context of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, and its development resulted from interactions among diverse religious, medical, and administrative traditions. In Byzantine civilization, institutions such as the xenon, xenodochion, and nosokomeion were closely associated with Christian teachings and were responsible for providing assistance to the poor, the sick, travelers, and individuals with disabilities. Over time, some of these institutions acquired more systematic therapeutic functions. With the expansion of the Islamic conquests and the incorporation of regions such as Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia into Muslim territories, conditions were created for the transfer of certain Byzantine institutional and medical experiences to the Islamic world. Nevertheless, hospitals in Islamic civilization cannot be regarded merely as direct imitations of the Byzantine model. Rather, they emerged through the adaptation, reconstruction, and synthesis of Byzantine, Syriac, Greek, Persian, and Islamic traditions. The findings of this study indicate that during the Umayyad period, rudimentary forms of medical care and patient support existed; however, the institutional development of hospitals in Islamic civilization was realized primarily during the Abbasid period and subsequently in major cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo. At this stage, the hospital evolved into a highly organized institution that, in addition to treating patients, played significant roles in medical education, pharmacy, the administration of charitable endowments (waqf), and the consolidation of urban and political authority. Therefore, the transformation of the hospital from Byzantium to the Islamic world was a gradual, multi-sourced, and creative process. This study argues that while the Islamic world benefited from the Byzantine legacy, it reinterpreted and reconstructed that legacy within the framework of the waqf system, Galenic-Arabic medicine, traditions of urban life, and Islamic religious values such as benevolence and the care of the sick.