ALFRAGAN, ALFERGANI, or Fargani, a celebrated Arabic astronomer, who flourished about the year 800. He was so called from the place of his nativity, Fergan, in Sogdiana, now called Maracanda, or Samarcand, anciently a part of Bactria. He is also called Abmed (or Muhammed) ben-Gothair, or Kair. He wrote the Elements of Astronomy in 30 chapters or sections. In this work the author chiefly follows Ptolemy, using the same hypothesis, and the same terms, and frequently citing him. Of Alfragan's work there are three Latin translations, of which the last and best was made by Golius, professor of mathematics and oriental languages in the university of Leyden. This translation, which was published in 1669, after the death of Golius, is accompanied with the Arabic text, and with many learned notes on the first nine chapters, which would undoubtedly have been carried to the end, had the translator lived to complete his plan.