Editing Academy (section)

===Persia===
The geographical position of [[Persia]] allowed it to absorb cultural influences and ideas from both west and east. This include the spread of the Greek form of schools in the new Hellenistic cities built in Persia after the invasion of [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name=Lowe />

Under the [[Sassanian Empire|Sasanians]], [[Classical Syriac|Syriac]] became an important language of the administration and intellectuals, rivaling Greek. Several cities developed centers of higher learning in the Sasanian Empire, including [[Mosul]], [[al-Hira]], and [[Harran]] (famous for the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] School of the [[Sabians of Harran|Sabians]]). The Grand School was the main center of learning in the Persian capital [[Ctesiphon]], but little is known about it. Perhaps the most famous center of learning in Persia was the [[Academy of Gundishapur]], teaching medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and logic. The academy was later instrumental in founding the Muslim city of Baghdad as a center of learning, and serving as the model for the first Muslim hospital (''[[bimaristan]]'') at Damascus.<ref name=Lowe>{{cite book |last1=Lowe |first1=Roy |last2=Yasuhara |first2=Yoshihito |title=The Origins of Higher Learning: Knowledge networks and the early development of universities |date=2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317543275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 |language=en}}</ref>

====Islamic world====
{{Main|Islamic Golden Age#Education}}
Founded in Fes, [[University of Al-Karaouine]] in the 9th century and in Cairo, [[Al-Azhar University]] in the 10th century, and in Mali, the [[University of Timbuktu]] in about 1100. [[Mustansiriya Madrasah]] in [[Baghdad]], Iraq, was established in 1227 as a [[madrasah]] by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid Caliph]] [[Al-Mustansir (Baghdad)|al-Mustansir]]. Its library had an initial collection of 80,000 volumes, given by the Caliph. The collection was said to have grown to 400,000 volumes.