Omar Khayyam

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
1

Lived from 1048 to circa 1122. His full name was Ghiyath al-Din Abu’l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami. A literal translation of his name “al Khayyami” means ‘the tentmaker’ - in reference possibly to the trade of his father.

Khayyam studied philosophy at Naishapur, as well as mathematics and astronomy. In 1070 he moved to Samarkand in Uzbekistan where he wrote his most famous algebra work, Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra. Malik Shah, the grandson of the founder of the Seljuq Dynasty, sent an invitation to Khayyam to set up an Observatory at Esfahan, the capital. One of Khayyam’s tasks was to compute the length of one year which he came up as 365.24219858156 days. He was not accurate, but he wasn’t far off. About eight hundred years later, the most accurate computation given was 365.242196 days; today we know it is 365.242190 days.

Shortly after Malik Shah’s third son, Sanjar, had become the ruler of the Seljuq empire, Khayyam left Esfahan and travelled to Merv (now known as Mary in Turkmenistan), which had been declared the new capital of the Seljuq empire. In one of his algebra journals, he described some of the mathematical work he was mulling over:

The Indians possess methods for finding the sides of squares and cubes based on such knowledge of the squares of nine figures, that is the square of 1, 2, 3, etc. and also the products formed by multiplying them by each other, i.e. the products of 2, 3 etc. I have composed a work to demonstrate the accuracy of these methods, and have proved that they do lead to the sought aim. I have moreover increased the species, that is I have shown how to find the sides of the square-square, quatro-cube, cubo-cube, etc. to any length, which has not been made before now. the proofs I gave on this occasion are only arithmetic proofs based on the arithmetical parts of Euclid’s “Elements”.

Among other things, Khayyam is well known for solving a complex cubic equation; when he had found the solution, he stated that it required the use of conic sections and that it could not be solved by ruler and compass methods - something that would not be proved for another 750 years.

In his Commentaries on the difficult postulates of Euclid’s book, Khayyam also made contributions to non-euclidean geometry though accidentally.

Perhaps among all things, however, Khayyam is today best known for his poetry - made more famous when, in 1859, Edward Fitzgerald translated it from Farsi into English; it was so popular that it went through five editions. It was a collection of short, four-line poems all known as the Rubaiyat. It has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and Urdu.

Some good links for further info on Omar Khayyam:

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Khayyam.html
http://www.blissbat.net/rambles/rubaiyat_fitz_fifth.html

2

Some selections from his Rubaiyat:

Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after some TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries,
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There."

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes
The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light.

Before the phantom of False morning died,
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,
"When all the Temple is prepared within,
"Why nods the drowsy Worshiper outside?"

There was the Door to which I found no Key;
There was the Veil through which I might not see:
Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE
There was - and then no more of THEE and ME.

And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted - "Open then the Door!
"You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."

Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run,
The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop,
The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.

Some for the Glories of This World; and some
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes - or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face,
Lighting a little hour or two - is gone.

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door where in I went.

With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd -
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

Into this Universe, and Why not knowing
Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing.

When You and I behind the Veil are past,
Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,
Which of our Coming and Departure heeds
As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.

Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain - This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too.

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.

And this I know: whether the one True Light
Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.

3

Nadia jee I have the rubbayiat, along with the illustrations by the Rene Bull. Its really beautiful.
Omar Khayam is one of my THE favorite poets.. He hits you right in the heart. I like this one the most.
"And we tht now make merry in the room they left, and summer dresses in new bloom. Ourselves must we beneath the couch of Earth descend, ourselves to make a Couch.....For Whom?"

4

few more:)
"Lo! some we loved the, the lovliest and the best. That time and fate of their vintage prest, have drunk a cup a round or two before, and one by one krept silently to rest."

"There was a door to which I found no key; There was a veil past which I could not see; Some little talk of Me and Thee, there seem'd--And then no more
of thee and me..."

Ah, fill the cuP; What boots it to repeat, How time is slipping beneath our feet: Unborn to-morrow, and dead yesterday, Why fret about them if To-day be sweet!" <---Love this one

5

Adnan Ahmed, thank you soooooo much for your replies; i was a bit disappointed to think there might not be another Omar Khayyam fan around here. i have been searching for an illustrated version of the Rubaiyat, but haven't ever found any; wow you're lucky Masha'Allah. Found some lovely pictures on the 'net, i was going to post them along with their poetic verses, in the Image forum but i thought that might be a boring post. The ones you gave are of course wonderful - my favourites out of his entire work:

"There was a door to which I found no key; There was a veil past which I could not see; Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee, there seem'd - And then no more of thee and me."

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit; Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."

He was such a great poet..such meaning and depth in his poems.

6

Excellent topic and post. This is exactly what I think of when I think of culture & literature.

7

Nice Poems n topic ..Thanks for sharing Guys !

8

The caravan of life shall always pass
Beware that is fresh as sweet young grass
Let’s not worry about what tomorrow will amass
Fill my cup again, this night will pass, alas.

9

How can this rhyme in Farsi and English, both?

10

-

11

The original rhyme in Farsi is attributable to Omar Khayyam (naturally), but the English rhyme was created by Edward Fitzgerald - he must have made it rhyme deliberately. There is another English translation done by an E.H. Whinfield - his translation does not always adhere to a rhyming pattern. i THINK, but i could be wrong, that this latter chap was more interested in a literal interpretation of the Rubaiyat. While Fitzgerald, also interested in an accurate interpretation, also wanted to have a poetic, rhyming ‘feel’ to the verses so he deliberately set out to make the entire Rubaiyat rhyme. Quite a task, but Fitzgerald did it quite well in my opinion.

12

Again, thankyou, Nadia. Your record of providing plausible or accurate answers remains quite good and logical.

13

CJ494 and Sandleen, thank you; i'm so glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you, Tomasso. Anytime. :)

14

thanks Nadia for the links as well the thread..i didn't know that Omar Khayam was into so many fields..i only knew about his poetry and did read some urdu translations as part of curriculum while in pakistan..and those ones rhyme too :)

thanks once again :)

15

Great thread nadiya...I was goin to share a rubayee ,,, by him but u have already listed it . :)
if I am not wrong all his work was in persian and later translated to English....I may be wrong.
I have read some of his rubayees in persian .....if u would like I would share it with u.

16

Omar Khayyam was Persian. His Rubbayat is in Farsi.

He was quite an accomplished astronomer and mathematics apart from being a world-class poet.