The next author mentioned at this place in the Fihrist as a translator
stands by himself,--Umar ibn al Farrukhan. He is altogether unknown as a
translator of historical works. Hence he was not included in the group
of persons mentioned before. On the other hand, had he been set down in
this passage of the Fihrist as a translator of scientific works he would
have been assigned a place not at the close of the list but in the
middle of the translators of this class of books, that is, after Ibn
Muqaffa and in the midst of the descendants of Naubakht and other
persons mentioned above. Therefore we think that Umar ibn Farrukhan was
a translator of another species of work or, may be, works. In support of
our assumption we must call attention to that place in the Fihrist where
are enumerated the books of this author and to which an-Nadhin himself
refers in the analysis of the number of translators from Persian into
Arabic.

Besides this place in the Fihrist, Umar ibn Farrukhan of Tabaristan has
been mentioned in two other places. Once briefly,[1] (268, 25-26) as the
annotator of the astronomical book of Dorotheya Sidonia and in another
place (277, 14-18) in a few lines[2] specially devoted to him. Here he
is mentioned as the annotator of Ptolemy as translated by Batrik Yahuya
ibn al Batrik and as the author of two books, one of astronomical
contents and the other entitled _Kitab al Mahasin_, that is the book of
good qualities and manners.[3] This latter book demands a few lines from
us.

[Footnote 1: Ibn al Qifti 184, 9--10.]

[Footnote 2: Ibn al Kifti 241, 20-242, 12. (This has been pointed out in
the Fihrist Vol. II, 110-111, and in ZDMG XXV, 1871, 413--415.) Further