Khayyam
Tentmaker who versified
Omar Khayyam was an eleventh-century Persian polymath—mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher—but he is remembered in the West primarily as a poet.
His *Rubáiyát*, a collection of quatrains translated loosely by Edward FitzGerald in 1859, became one of the most quoted works of Victorian literature.
The poems celebrate wine, love, and the fleeting nature of existence: A jug of wine, a loaf of bread—and thou.
Khayyam alone typically refers to Omar Khayyam rather than others who share the surname.
Verses of four lines
- versesLines of poetry
- stanzasUnits of grouped lines
- wineFermented grape beverage
- carpe diemGrasp the present moment
hedonism · mortality · translation · Persian · imagery · metaphor · tavern · cup-bearer
Math using symbols
- astronomyScience of celestial objects
- calendarDate-tracking system
- geometryScience of spatial relationships
- treatiseFormal scholarly composition
Euclid · parallels · binomial · coefficients · irrational numbers · calculation · proofs · theorems
Disposition toward doubt
- agnosticismDoubt about divine existence
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- free willAutonomous choice capacity
existentialism · doubt · questioning · meaning · purpose · afterlife · predestination · impermanence
quatrains
Verses of four lines
carpe diem · hedonism · mortality · translation · Persian · imagery · metaphor · tavern · cup-bearer · beloved
algebra
Math using symbols
- astronomyScience of celestial objects
- calendarDate-tracking system
- geometryScience of spatial relationships
treatise · Euclid · parallels · binomial · coefficients · irrational numbers · calculation · proofs · theorems · trigonometry
skepticism
Disposition toward doubt
- agnosticismDoubt about divine existence
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
free will · existentialism · doubt · questioning · meaning · purpose · afterlife · predestination · impermanence · nihilism
Persia
Iran's former name
patronage · vizier · medieval · Islamic Golden Age · Samarkand · scholar · polymath · tomb · mausoleum · Iran
Khayyamascetics
People practicing severe self-discipline
Augustine of Hippo · John Calvin · Thomas Aquinas · monastics · stoics
- Omar KhayyamPersian poet-mathematician-astronomer