Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and
poet, renowned in his own country and time for his scientific achievements but
chiefly known to English-speaking readers through the translation of a
collection of his poems known as Robáiyyát (“quatrains”) in ‘The Rubáiyát of Omar
Khayyám’ (1859), by
the English writer Edward FitzGerald.
He was born in Neyshábúr [also spelled Nīshápúr], which is
now located in Iranian province of Khorásán. His name Khayyam (“Tent-maker”)
may have been derived from his father's trade. He received a good education in
the sciences and philosophy in his native Neyshábúr before traveling to Samarkand
(now in Uzbekistan), where he completed his algebra treatise: “Treatise on
Demonstration of Problems of Algebra”. This mathematical treatise enhanced his
reputation significantly. In this treatise he gave a systematic discussion of
the solution of cubic equations by means of intersecting conic sections.
He made such a name for himself that the Persian King Malik-Sháh invited him to Esfahán to undertake the
astronomical observations necessary for the reform of the calendar. To
accomplish this an observatory was built there, and a new calendar was
produced, known as the Jalálí calendar. Based on making 8 of every 33 years leap
years, it was more accurate than the present Gregorian calendar, and it was
adopted in 1075 by Malik-Sháh. In Esfahán he also produced fundamental
critiques of Euclid's theory of parallels as well as his theory of proportion.
In connection with the former his ideas eventually made their way to Europe,
where they influenced the English mathematician John Wallis (1616–1703); in
connection with the latter he argued for the important idea of enlarging the
notion of number to include ratios of magnitudes.
His years in Esfahán were very productive ones, but after the death of his patron in 1092 the sultan's widow turned against him, and soon thereafter Omar went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He then returned to Neyshábúr where he taught and served the court as an astrologer. Philosophy, jurisprudence, history, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy are among the subjects mastered by this brilliant man.
Omar's fame in the West rests upon the collection of robáʿíyát,
or “quatrains,” attributed to him. (A quatrain is a piece of verse complete in
four lines, usually rhyming aaaa or aaba; it is close in style
and spirit to the epigram.) Omar's poems had attracted comparatively little
attention until they inspired FitzGerald to write his celebrated The
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, containing such now-famous phrases as “A Jug of
Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou,” “Take the Cash, and let the Credit go,” and
“The Flower that once has blown forever dies.” These quatrains have been
translated into almost every major language and are largely responsible for
colouring European ideas about Persian poetry.
Each of Omar's quatrains forms a complete poem in itself. It
was FitzGerald who conceived the idea of combining a series of these robáʿíyát
into a continuous elegy that had an intellectual unity and consistency.
FitzGerald's ingenious and felicitous paraphrasing gave his translations a
memorable verve and succinctness. They are, however, extremely free
translations, and more recently several more faithful renderings of the
quatrains have been published.
The verses translated by FitzGerald and others reveal a man
of deep thought, troubled by the questions of the nature of reality and the
eternal, the impermanence and uncertainty of life, and man's relationship to
God.
(Adapted from Encyclopedia Britannica)
Below is a sample of one of his quatrains:
Man is a cup, his soul the wine therein,
Flesh is a pipe, spirit the voice therein,
O Khayyam have you fathomed what man is?
A magic lantern with a light therein
