An overview of the history of medicine in Ottoman–Safavid relations (16th–18th centuries CE)

Abstract

With the onset of the Safavid dynasty in 1501 and the simultaneous consolidation of Ottoman power, two major Muslim empires emerged as neighboring political and cultural centers in West Asia. Although Ottoman–Safavid relations have often been examined in light of political and military history, their medical interactions have received limited attention. This study investigates how medical knowledge circulated between the two empires from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries and examines the mechanisms through which these exchanges shaped medical practice and scholarly production. The study analyzes physician mobility, medical texts, pharmacological literature, and institutional structures within the broader Islamicate medical tradition.Particular attention is given to the transmission and adaptation of medical knowledge across imperial boundaries. The findings demonstrate that Ottoman–Safavid medical relations extended beyond the transfer of isolated ideas and constituted a sustained process of intellectual exchange. Shared Galenic and Islamicate foundations sustained continuity in medical theory and practice, while physician migration, textual circulation, and scholarly networks facilitated the localization and transformation of medical knowledge across different imperial settings. The study argues that Ottoman–Safavid medical interactions should be understood as part of a broader interconnected medical world in which knowledge moved through overlapping scholarly, cultural, and political networks.