Ostanes was a legendary pre-Islamic sage who, according to some sources, was from Alexandria though he was Persian according to other accounts. Antiquity and modernity stand cheek-by-jowl in Egypts chief Mediterranean seaport Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, الإسكندرية — al-Iskandariyah) is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that countrys second largest city, and the capital of the Al Iskandariyah governate. ... Iran (historically Persia) (Persian: ایران) is a Middle Eastern country located in Southwest Asia. ...

He is frequently cited in Arabic and Persian alchemical literature as an authority on alchemy. An Arabic alchemical treatise titled Kitab al-Fusul al-ithnay ‘ashar fi ‘ilm al-hajar al-mukarram (The Book of the Twelve Chapters on the Honourable Stone) is attributed to him. Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... The Alchemist. ...

See also

• List of Iranian scientists

Photo taken from medieval manuscript by Qotbeddin Shirazi. ...

Sources

For this elusive alchemical authority from late Antiquity, see:

• Manfred Ullmann, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam, Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung I, Erg?nzungsband VI, Abschnitt 2 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972), p. 184
• Georges C. Anawati, 'Arabic Alchemy' in Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, ed. by Roshdi Rashed (London: Routledge, 1996), volume 3, p. 862.