Omar Khayyam
1048–1131
Biography
Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) was a Persian polymath who worked in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and poetry during the Seljuk period. He was born in Nishapur, in north-eastern Iran. In mathematics he gave a general geometric method for solving cubic equations by means of intersecting conic sections, and he wrote a commentary on the difficulties in Euclid's parallel postulate; a quadrilateral used in that discussion is named after him by some writers. He also supervised the calculations for a calendar reform at the court of the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah, while the vizier Nizam al-Mulk was in office. The Jalali calendar that resulted provided the basis for the Persian calendar still in use today.
A tradition attributes to him many quatrains, known as rubaiyat, and it is through these that he became famous far beyond the world of science. The attribution is uncertain, since the verses circulated in many versions over the centuries. In English they became known through Edward FitzGerald's The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published in 1859. That version took considerable liberties with the originals and enjoyed great success in the late nineteenth century. For many English readers, the poet is the figure of FitzGerald's version rather than of the Persian texts.
The site holds The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in Edward FitzGerald's English version, the book through which many English readers first met the poet. Its verses on wine, time and fate read as much like Victorian English poetry as like their Persian originals. Readers who come to it from the mathematics and calendars above should keep in mind that the mathematical and astronomical work is securely his, while the quatrains are his only by tradition.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
by Omar Khayyam (translated by Edward FitzGerald)
Edward FitzGerald's free English version of the Persian astronomer's quatrains, with its wine, its roses and the Moving Finger that writes and moves on, became one of the most quoted poems of Victorian England. This edition prints the first and fifth versions, one after the…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.