Iran: A Simurgh (the Persian phoenix) as depicted in 'Manafi al-Hayawan' (Useful Animals). Maragheh, 1294-99 (Ilkhanid Era).

Abu Said Ubaud Allah Ibn Bakhitshu's Ibn Bakhtishu's Manafi' al-Hayawan is an illustrated bestiary in the Persian language.

The Bakhtshooa Gondishapoori (also spelled Bukhtishu and Bukht-Yishu) were Assyrian Nestorian Christian physicians from the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, spanning 6 generations and 250 years. Some of them served as the personal physicians of Caliphs. Like all physicians in the Abbasid courts, they came from the Academy of Gundishapur in Persia (in modern-day southwestern Iran). They were well versed in the Greek and Hindi sciences, including those of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Galen, which they aided in translating while working in Gondeshapur.

Yahya al-Barmaki, the vizier and mentor to Harun al-Rashid, provided patronage to the academy and hospital in Gondeshapur and helped assure the promotion and growth of astronomy, medicine, and philosophy, not only in Persia but also in the Abbasid empire in general.

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