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The Academy of Gundishapur was founded in 666 AD by Sassanids during the reign of Shapur I of Persia. Gundishapur complex consisted of an academy, a university, a library and a teaching hospital. Its name is also written as "Gondeshapur", "Jondishapour" etc. It has been argued that Gondishapur might have had a Parthian antecedent. It was an institution for philosophical and medical studies. It is located in the present-day province of Khuzestan, in the southwest of Iran, not so far from the Karun river.
It was build in a city named Gondishapur , one of the four major cities of Khuzestan province of Persia at that time. The name Gondishapur comes from the Persian language word Gund-dez-i Shapur (the Military fortress of Shapur). Gundishapur University and Academy were important centers of science, philosophy, and medicine in the ancient world.
The city had to surrender to the Muslim Arab forces in 17/638 and this caused the decline of the Academic activities there. Gundishapur had the important role of establishing the institution of the teaching hospital (bimarestan) in the Middle-east. The prophet Mani's imprisonment and death is also located in Gundishapur.