Rayy

An ancient city beside modern Tehran, where the physician-philosopher al-Razi was born and directed a hospital celebrated for the care of its patients.

Rayy stood near modern Tehran on the road east, a large city until the Mongols finished it. Al-Razi was born here around 854 and ran its hospital before taking charge of the one in Baghdad. The story told about him is that he chose the site for a new hospital by hanging pieces of meat around the city and building where the meat spoiled slowest. Whether or not it happened, it suits a man who trusted what he could test over what he had been told.