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Ancient higher-learning institutions

For the list of institutions, seeList of oldest universities in continuous operation.

A variety ofancient higher-learning institutionswere developed in many cultures to provide institutional frameworks for scholarly activities. These ancient centres were sponsored and overseen by courts; by religious institutions, which sponsoredcathedral schools,monastic schools,andmadrasas;by scientific institutions, such as museums, hospitals, and observatories; and by respective scholars. They are to be distinguished from theWestern-styleuniversity,an autonomous organization of scholars that originated inmedieval Europe[1]and has been adopted in other regions inmodern times(seelist of oldest universities in continuous operation).[2]

Mosaic fromPompeii(1st c. BC) depictingPlato'sAcademy.

Africa

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North Africa

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Egypt

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Ancient Egyptiansestablished an organization of higher learning – thePer-ankh,which means the "House of Life" – in 2000 BCE.[3][4]

In the third century BCE, amid thePtolemaic dynasty,theSerapeum,Mouseion,andLibrary of Alexandriaserved as organizations of higher learning inAlexandria.[5][4]

InCairo,Al-Azhar,which was established in 970 CE, served as an organization of higher learning.[6][4]

Morocco

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InFez,Fatima al-Fihriestablished a madraza in 859 CE, which eventually became the organization of higher learning, the currently namedUniversity of al-Qarawiyyin.[6][4]

See also:University_of_al-Qarawiyyin § Status_as_world's_oldest_university

Tunisia

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TheEz-Zitouna University,which was established in 732 CE asAl-Zaytuna Mosque,served as an organization of higher learning.[4]

West Africa

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Mali

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In the twelfth century CE, theUniversity of Sankore,which began as the Mosque of Sankore, served as an organization of higher learning inTimbuktu.[6][4]The Mosque of Sankore, the Mosque ofSidi Yahya,and the Mosque ofDjinguereberconstitute what is referred to as theUniversity of Timbuktu.[6][4]

East Africa

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Ethiopia

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In the fourth century CE, amid the reign of EmperorElla Amida,the Axumite imperial church served as an organization of higher learning.[3][4]

Asia

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Ancient India

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Major Buddhist monasteries (mahaviharas), notably those atPushpagiri,Nalanda,Valabhi,andTaxila,included schools that were some of the primary institutions of higher learning inancient India.The Salai in South India such asKanthalloor Salai,Parthivapuram Salaiserved the same purpose.

Nalanda

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Main article:Nalanda
Nalanda,ancient center of higher learning inBihar,India[7][8]from 427 to 1197

Nalandawas established in the fifth century CE inBihar,India,[7]and survived until circa 1200 CE. It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics and the art of war.[9]

Evidence in literature suggests that in 1193, Nalanda mahavihara was sacked by[10]Bakhtiyar Khilji.[11]The Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj, in his chronicle the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, reported an attack on a Buddhist monastery in which all the Buddhist monks were killed. This may have been Nalanda but others believe it wasOdantapuri.[12] In 2014 the modernNalanda Universitywas launched in nearbyRajgir.

Pushpagiri

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Udayagiri, OdishaPart ofPushpagiri

The school inPushpagiriwas established in the third century CE as presentOdisha,India. As of 2007, the ruins of this Mahavihara had not yet been fully excavated. Consequently, much of the Mahavihara's history remains unknown. Of the three Mahavihara campuses, Lalitgiri in the district of Cuttack is the oldest. Iconographic analysis indicates that Lalitgiri had already been established during theShungaperiod of the second century BCE, making it one of the oldest Buddhist establishments in the world. The Chinese travellerXuanzang(Hiuen Tsang), who visited it in 639 CE, asPuphagiri Mahavihara,[13][14]as well as in medieval Tibetan texts. However, unlike Takshila and Nalanda, the ruins of Pushpagiri were not discovered until 1995, when a lecturer from a local college first stumbled upon the site.[15][16]The task of excavating Pushpagiri's ruins, stretching over 58 hectares (143 acres) of land, was undertaken by the Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies between 1996 and 2006. It is now being carried out by theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI).[17] TheNagarjunakondainscriptions also mention about this learning center.[18][19]

Taxila

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AncientTaxilaor Takshashila, in ancientGandhara,present-dayPakistan,was an early Buddhist centre of learning. According to scattered references that were only fixed a millennium later, it may have dated back to at least the fifth century BCE.[20]Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the sixth century BCE.[21]The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis.[20]

Takshashila is described in some detail in laterJātakatales, written inSri Lankaaround the fifth century CE.[22]

It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BCE, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the fifth century CE. Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association withChanakya.The famoustreatiseArthashastra(Sanskritfor The knowledge ofEconomics) by Chanakya, is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself. Chanakya (or Kautilya),[23]theMauryaEmperorChandragupta[24]and theAyurvedicdoctorCharakastudied at Taxila.[25]

Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. TheVedasand the Eighteen Arts, which included skills such asarchery,hunting,andelephantlore, were taught, in addition to itslaw school,medical school,and school ofmilitary science.[25]

Vikramashila

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Vikramashilawas one of the two most important centres of learning in India during thePala Empire,along withNalanda.Vikramashila was established by KingDharmapala(783 to 820) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda.Atisha,the renownedpandita,is sometimes listed as a notableabbot.It was destroyed by the forces ofMuhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khiljiaround 1200.[26]

Vikramashila is known to us mainly through Tibetan sources, especially the writings ofTāranātha,the Tibetan monk historian of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[27]

Vikramashila was one of the largest Buddhist universities, with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture and religion. The most distinguished and eminent among all wasAtishaDipankara, a founder of theSarmatraditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Subjects like philosophy, grammar, metaphysics,Indian logicetc. were taught here, but the most important branch of learning wastantrism.[citation needed]

Other

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Further centres includeOdantapuri,inBihar(circa 550 – 1040),Telharain Bihar[28](probably older than Nalanda[29]),Somapura MahaviharaandJagaddala MahaviharainBengal,Kanchipuram,inTamil Nadu,Manyakheta,inKarnataka,Nagarjunakonda,inAndhra Pradesh,Sharada Peeth,Somapura Mahavihara,inBangladesh,Valabhi,inGujarat,VaranasiinUttar Pradesh,Vikramashila,inBihar(circa800–1040),Mahavihara,Abhayagiri Vihāra,andJetavanaramaya,inSri Lanka.[citation needed]

East Asia

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China

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InChina,the ancient imperial academy known asTaixuewas established by theHan dynasty.It was intermittently inherited by succeeding Chinese dynasties up until the Qing dynasty, in some of which the name was changed toGuozixueorGuozi gian.Peking University(Imperial University of Peking) andNanjing Universityare regarded as the replacement of Taixue. By 725 CE,Shuyuanor Academies of Classical Learning were private learning institutions established during the medieval ChineseTang dynasty.TheYuelu Academy(later becomeHunan University) founded in 976 CE, which is one of thefour ancient famous Shuyuan(Academies) during theSong dynasty.[30]

Japan

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InJapan,Daigakuryowas founded in 671 andAshikaga Gakkowas founded in the ninth century and restored in 1432.[citation needed]

Korea

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InKorea,Taehakwas founded in 372 andGukhakwas established in 682.Seowonswere private institutions established during theJoseon dynastywhich combined functions of aConfucian shrineand a preparatory school. TheSeonggyungwanwas founded by in 1398 to offer prayers and memorials toConfuciusand his disciples, and to promote the study of theConfucian canon.It was the successor toGukjagamfrom theGoryeo dynasty(992). It was reopened asSungkyunkwan University,a private Western-style university, in 1946.[citation needed]

Ancient Persia

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TheAcademy of Gondishapurwas established in the third century CE under the rule ofSassanidkings and continued its scholarly activities up to four centuries after Islam came to Iran. It was an important medical centre of the sixth and seventh centuries and a prominent example of higher education model in pre-Islam Iran.[31]

Europe

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Classical Greece

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Aristotle's School,a painting from the 1880s by Gustav Adolph Spangenberg

ThePlatonic Academy(sometimes referred to as the University of Athens),[32][33]founded ca. 387 BCE inAthens,Greece,by the philosopherPlato,lasted until 86 BCE, when it was destroyed during Sulla's siege and sacking of Athens.[34]Some 400 years later, during the fourth century CE, the Platonist philosopherPlutarch of Athensstarted a school which identified itself with Plato's Academy. That school lasted until 529, when it was closed following an edict from the Emperor Justinian prohibiting pagans from teaching.[35]

Around 335 BCE, Plato's successorAristotlefounded thePeripatetic school,the students of which met at theLyceumgymnasium in Athens. The school also ceased in 86 BC during the famine, siege and sacking of Athens bySulla.[36]

Christian Europe

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See also:Byzantine higher education,Cathedral school,andMonastic school
Bologna University,established in 1088 AD in Italy, is the world'soldest university in continuous operation.
Established in 1224 byFrederick IIduring his rule asKing of Sicily,theUniversity of Naples Federico IIinNaples,Italy is the world's oldest state-funded university in continuous operation.[37][38]

TheUniversity of Constantinople,founded as an institution of higher learning in 425, educated graduates to take on posts of authority in the imperial service or within the Church.[39]It was reorganized as a corporation of students in 849 by the regentBardasof emperorMichael III,is considered by some to be the earliest institution of higher learning with some of the characteristics we associate today with a university (research and teaching, auto-administration, academic independence, et cetera). If a university is defined as "an institution of higher learning" then it is preceded by several others, including the Academy that it was founded to compete with and eventually replaced. If the original meaning of the word is considered "a corporation of students" then this could be the first example of such an institution. ThePreslav Literary SchoolandOhrid Literary Schoolwere the two major literary schools of theFirst Bulgarian Empire.[citation needed]

In Western Europe during theEarly Middle Ages,bishopssponsoredcathedral schoolsandmonasteriessponsoredmonastic schools,chiefly dedicated to the education ofclergy.The earliest evidence of a European episcopal school is that established inVisigothicSpain at theSecond Council of Toledoin 527.[40]These early episcopal schools, with a focus on an apprenticeship in religious learning under a scholarly bishop, have been identified in Spain and in about twenty towns in Gaul during the sixth and seventh centuries.[41]

In addition to these episcopal schools, there were monastic schools which educated monks and nuns, as well as future bishops, at a more advanced level.[42]Around the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some of them developed into autonomous universities. A notable example is when theUniversity of Parisgrew out of the schools associated with theCathedral of Notre Dame,theMonastery of Ste. Geneviève,and theAbbey of St. Victor.[43][44]Italian universities are among the oldest universities in the world; theUniversity of Bologna(founded in 1088) notably, isthe oldest one ever;also,University of Naples Federico II(founded in 1224) are is the world's oldest state-funded university in continuous operation.[37][38]

See also

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References

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  • Furley, David (2003a), "Peripatetic School", in Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony (eds.),The Oxford Classical Dictionary(3rd ed.), Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-860641-9
  • Irwin, T.(2003),"Aristotle",in Craig, Edward (ed.),Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy,Routledge
  • Lynch, J. (1997), "Lyceum", in Zeyl, Donald J.; Devereux, Daniel; Mitsis, Phillip (eds.),Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy,Greenwood Press,ISBN0-313-28775-9
  • Riché, Pierre.Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century.Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1978.ISBN0-87249-376-8.

Notes

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  1. ^Stephen C. Ferruolo,The Origins of the University: The Schools of Paris and Their Critics, 1100–1215,(Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1985) pp. 4–5ISBN0-8047-1266-2
  2. ^Hilde de Ridder-Symoens (1994).A History of the University in Europe: Universities in the middle ages / ed. Hilde de Ridder-Symoens.ISBN978-0-521-36105-7.
  3. ^abLulat, Y. G.-M. (2005).A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present: A Critical Synthesis.Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 44.ISBN9780313320613.
  4. ^abcdefghAlemu, Sintayehu Kassaye."The Meaning, Idea And History Of University/Higher Education In Africa: A Brief Literature Review"(PDF).Institution of Education Sciences.FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education.
  5. ^Cunningham, Jeffrey J."The role of learning institutions in Ptolemaic Alexandria".WWU Graduate School Collection.Western Washington University.
  6. ^abcdPeters, Michael A. (2019)."Ancient centers of higher learning: A bias in the comparative history of the university?".Educational Philosophy and Theory.51(11): 1063–1072.doi:10.1080/00131857.2018.1553490.S2CID149851763.
  7. ^abAltekar, Anant Sadashiv(1965).Education in Ancient India,Sixth, Varanasi: Nand Kishore & Bros.
  8. ^"Really Old School,"Garten, Jeffrey E. New York Times, 9 December 2006.
  9. ^OpEd in New York Times: Nalanda University
  10. ^Allen, Charles.The Buddha and the Sahibs.
  11. ^Scott, David (May 1995). "Buddhism and Islam: Past to Present Encounters and Interfaith Lessons". p. 141. Digital object identifier:10.1163/1568527952598657
  12. ^André Wink (2002). Al-Hind: The Slave Kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th–13th centuries. BRILL. pp. 146–148. ISBN 0-391-04174-6.
  13. ^Binayak Misra (1986).Indian culture and cult of Jagannātha.Punthi Pustak.
  14. ^"Orissa's treasures".February 2005. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^H. K. Mohapatra (December 2004)."Great Heritages of Orissa"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 10 April 2009.
  16. ^"ASI hope for hill heritage – Conservation set to start at Orissa site".The Telegraph.Calcutta, India. 29 January 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 4 February 2013.
  17. ^"Archaeological Survey of India takes over Orissa Buddhist site".17 November 2006.
  18. ^Thomas E. Donaldson (2001).Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Orissa: Text.Abhinav Publications. p. 4.ISBN978-81-7017-406-6.
  19. ^Pratapaditya Pal; Marg Publications (2001).Orissa revisited.Marg Publications.ISBN978-81-85026-51-0.
  20. ^abScharfe, Hartmut; Bronkhorst, Johannes; Spuler, Bertold; Altenmüller, Hartwig (2002).Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. Education in ancient India.p. 141.ISBN978-90-04-12556-8.
  21. ^"History of Education",Encyclopædia Britannica,2007.
  22. ^Marshall 1975:81
  23. ^KautilyaArchived10 January 2008 at theWayback Machine.Encyclopædia Britannica.
  24. ^Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966).Chandragupta Maurya And His Times.Motilal Banarsidass Pub. p. 17.ISBN978-81-208-0405-0.
  25. ^abMookerji, Radhakumud (1990).Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist.Motilal Banarsidass Pub. pp. 478–489.ISBN978-81-208-0423-4.
  26. ^Sanderson, Alexis. "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, 23, pp. 89.
  27. ^"Excavated Remains at Nalanda".UNESCO World Heritage Centre.Retrieved13 July2012.
  28. ^"TELHARA (NALANDA) EXCAVATION A Brief Report"(PDF).yac.bih.nic.in. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 June 2014.Retrieved17 February2015.
  29. ^"Telhara University's ruins older than Nalanda, Vikramshila".firstpost. 14 December 2014.Retrieved17 February2015.
  30. ^"Introduction of Hunan University".Hunan University.
  31. ^Salari, H."University in Iran".paper.jazirehdanesh. Archived fromthe originalon 25 March 2016.Retrieved13 May2011.
  32. ^Ellwood P. Cubberley (2004).The History of Education.Kessinger Publishing. p. 50.ISBN978-1-4191-6605-1.
  33. ^Howard Eugene Wilson (1939).Harvard Educational Review.Harvard University.
  34. ^"Plato: The Academy".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Retrieved7 April2021.
  35. ^"Plato: The Academy".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Retrieved7 April2021.
  36. ^336 BC:Furley 2003a,p. 1141; 335 BCE:Lynch 1997,p. 311; 334 BC:Irwin 2003
  37. ^abStoria d'Italia(in Italian). Vol. 4. Torino: UTET. 7 August 1981. p. 122.ISBN88-02-03568-7.
  38. ^abDelle Donne, Fulvio (2010).Storia dello Studium di Napoli in età sveva(in Italian). Mario Adda Editore. pp. 9–10.ISBN978-8880828419.
  39. ^Constantinides, C. N. (2003). "Rhetoric in Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-Fifth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies". In Jeffreys, Elizabeth (ed.).Teachers and students of rhetoric in the late Byzantine period.Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 39–53.ISBN0-7546-3453-1.
  40. ^Riché,Education and Culture,pp. 126–7.
  41. ^Riché,Education and Culture,pp. 282–90.
  42. ^Riché,Education and Culture,pp. 290–8.
  43. ^Pedersen, Olaf (1997).The First Universities: Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe.Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–31.ISBN978-0-521-59431-8.
  44. ^The rise of universities.Cornell University Press. 1957. pp. 12–16.ISBN978-0-8014-9015-6.
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