Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam (Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam, 1048–1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and philosopher born at Nishapur. He is remembered in the sciences for his work on cubic equations and for his part in reforming the Persian calendar, and in the West chiefly for the quatrains (ruba'iyat) attributed to him.

The English version here is E. H. Whinfield's 1883 translation, which he made from several Persian manuscripts and which numbers 500 quatrains. The attribution of many ruba'iyat to Omar is disputed, and scholars have long argued over which are genuinely his; the quatrains turn on wine, the tavern, the brevity of life and the mystical and sceptical questions of fate and faith. For Edward FitzGerald's celebrated freer rendering, already in this archive, see the poet FitzGerald.