Zadanfarrukh Andarzgar

For the Sasanian general with this last name see Andarzaghar.

Zādānfarrukh Andarzgar (in Persian: زادان‌فرخ اندرزگر) was a Persian astrologer associated with the Sasanian astrological tradition. His writings in Middle Persian have not survived in their original form, but material attributed to him is preserved in Arabic quotations and adaptations.

The surviving material concerns natal astrology, annual or anniversary horoscopes, and the allocation of periods of life to planetary rulers. It provides evidence for the transmission of Sasanian astrological doctrines into Islamic astrology and, subsequently, medieval Latin astrology.

Name The name appears in several forms in the manuscript and scholarly traditions. David Pingree identified Zadanfarrukh as the scholar's personal name and Andarzgar as a title derived from Middle Persian handarzgar, meaning "adviser". The Middle Persian term andarzgar could also mean "counsellor" or "teacher" and was not exclusive to this astrologer. The Persian personal name Zadanfarrukh means "Born auspicious". Zadanfarrukh Andarzgar's name also appears in the Arabicized form Zadanfarrukh al-Andarzaghar.

Historical background Little is known about Zadanfarrukh Andarzgar's life, and his dates of birth and death are unknown. Pingree placed him within the Sasanian tradition of astrological scholarship.

Historical significance Zadanfarrukh Andarzgar's importance for the history of astrology rests primarily on the preservation of his doctrines by later authors. Since much of the Middle Persian astrological literature has been lost, Arabic quotations and translations are essential to reconstructing this tradition.

His writings illustrate the development of systems for interpreting successive years and periods of a person's life. These systems combined doctrines inherited from Greek astrology with developments in the Iranian tradition. Their survival in Arabic compilations and Latin translations makes the material attributed to him a source for studying the movement of astrological knowledge between late antiquity and the medieval Islamic and European worlds.