The nineteenth century marked a critical juncture in the modernization of medicine across the Middle East, as traditional frameworks gave way to European-inspired scientific and pedagogical models. In Iran, this transformation was crystallized through the establishment of Dār al-Funūn in 1851 under Mirza Taqi Khan Amīrkabīr, which introduced structured higher education in medicine and the basic sciences.
European-trained physicians such as Jacob Edward Polak played a pivotal role by authoring the first modern Persian anatomy textbook and performing Iran’s first official dissection, thereby institutionalizing modern anatomy teaching. However, the modernization of Iranian medicine was not solely a European import but also part of a wider regional intellectual exchange.
Central to this process was the Ottoman physician Şanizade Mehmed Ataullah Efendi, whose Mir’āt al-Abdān fī Tashrīḥ A’zā’ al-Insān (1820) was one of the earliest printed modern medical textbook in the Islamic world. Characterized by three-dimensional anatomical illustrations adapted from leading European sources, Şanizade’s work bridged Islamic medical traditions with modern European anatomical science.
Its Persian translation, Anwār al-Nāṣiriyyah (1855), though not formally adopted at Dār al-Funūn, illustrates how Ottoman scholarship directly informed Iranian medical education and royal patronage. This study situates the development of modern medicine in Iran within a broader transregional context, emphasizing the role of Ottoman contributions alongside European influences.
It argues that Şanizade’s work provided an essential intermediary step in shaping Iranian anatomy education and exemplifies the circulation of medical knowledge across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Ultimately, the modernization of Iranian medicine emerged from interconnected intellectual networks spanning Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and Iran.