Welcome to the Mathematical World!

Khosrow I Anushirvan

Sassanian Persian King and Patron of Science

Khosrow I Anushirvan (reigned 531–579 CE) was a Sassanian Persian king renowned not only for his political reforms but also for his patronage of science, philosophy, and mathematics. While not a scientist himself, his reign marked a golden era of intellectual exchange between Greek, Indian, and Persian traditions.

Khosrow established the Academy of Gondeshapur as a major center of learning, where scholars translated Greek and Syriac scientific texts into Middle Persian. The academy became a repository of medical, astronomical, and mathematical knowledge, serving as a bridge between the classical world and the Islamic Golden Age.

Under Khosrow’s patronage, Indian mathematical astronomy—particularly texts like the Surya Siddhanta—was introduced to Persia and eventually to the Arab world. Greek works of Aristotle, Galen, and Euclid were also translated and studied. By fostering this synthesis, Khosrow played a crucial role in transmitting mathematical astronomy and natural philosophy across cultures.

Khosrow himself is remembered as a philosopher-king, often associated with wisdom and justice. His court welcomed philosophers fleeing the closure of the Neoplatonic Academy in Athens in 529 CE by Justinian. This migration brought late Platonic mathematical and metaphysical ideas into Persia, enriching intellectual debates at Gondeshapur.

Though Khosrow was not an author of scientific works, his political vision created conditions for systematic knowledge transfer. His reign ensured the survival of Greco-Roman science, the introduction of Indian mathematics, and their eventual integration into Islamic scholarship. Thus, Khosrow I stands as an essential figure in the chain of transmission that preserved and expanded mathematical and scientific traditions beyond antiquity.