The biography of Omar Khayyam, whose full name is pronounced Giyasaddin Abu-l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam Nishapuri, the great Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, began on May 18, 1048. It was then that the future author of the world-famous rubaiyat quatrains was born in Iranian city of Nishapur.
At the age of 12, Omar Khayyam became a student at the Nishapur madrasah. He brilliantly completed a course in Islamic law and medicine, qualifying as a doctor. But medical practice was of little interest to young Omar Khayyam, who was then more interested in the works of Eastern and Greek mathematicians. Omar Khayyam continued his further education in Samarkand, where he first became a student at one of the madrassas, but after several speeches at debates he so impressed everyone with his learning that he was immediately made a mentor.
Four years later, Omar Khayyam left Samarkand and moved to Bukhara, where he began working in book depositories. During the ten years that Khayyam lived in Bukhara, he wrote four fundamental treatises on mathematics.
In 1074, the biography of Omar Khayyam began as a court scientist. This year, Khayyam was invited to Isfahan to the court of the Seljuk Sultan Melik Shah I. On the initiative of the Shah's chief vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, Omar Khayyam became the Sultan's spiritual mentor. In addition, Malik Shah appointed him head of the palace observatory. With a group of scientists, Omar Khayyam developed a solar calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar. It was Khayyam’s calendar that was approved and formed the basis of the Iranian calendar, which has been in effect in Iran as official from 1079 to the present day. At the same time, Omar Khayyam compiled the Malikshah Astronomical Tables, which included a small star catalog, and wrote several treatises on algebra.
Omar Khayyam also worked well in the field of philosophy. Five philosophical works of Khayyam have reached us - “Treatise on Being and Oughtness”, “Answer to Three Questions: the Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism and Eternity”, “Light of Reason on the Subject of Universal Science”, “Treatise on Existence” and “Book on demand (about all things)."
Simultaneously with his scientific work, Omar Khayyam performed the duties of an astrologer and doctor under Queen Turkan Khatun. The famous rubai quatrains were also created by Omar Khayyam (according to his biographers) in Isfahan, at the time of the greatest flowering of his creativity.
However, after being accused of godless freethinking, Omar Khayyam was forced to leave the capital in 1092. Little is known about the last years in the biography of Omar Khayyam. Sources indicate that for some time Khayyam stayed in Merv in 1114, where he could make meteorological forecasts. The year of death of Omar Khayyam is unknown. The most likely date of his death is considered to be March 23, 1122 (according to other sources, December 4, 1131).
Omar Khayyam was buried in Nishapur.
Giyasaddin Abu-l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam Nishapuri - outstanding Persian poet, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher.
According to the surviving horoscope of Omar Khayyam, it is calculated that he was most likely born on May 18 in 1048 year. Place of birth - Nishapur city.
Nishapur, located in the east of Iran, in the ancient cultural province of Khorasan, was a fair city for many, even remote, provinces of Iran and Central Asia and for nearest countries. Nishapur was one of the most important cultural centers Iran; Since the 11th century, schools of secondary and higher types - madrasahs - have operated in the city.
Children's and teenage years Omar Khayyam. There is no information about his family. The nickname - Khayyam, which means "tent maker", "tent maker", allows us to suggest that his father belonged to craft circles. In any case, the family had sufficient funds to provide their son with the opportunity for many years of serious study.
Omar Khayyam first studied at the Nishapur madrasah, which at that time had the glory of an aristocratic educational institution, preparing major officials for civil service, then continued his education in Balkh and Samarkand.
He mastered a wide range of precise and natural sciences, developed in his time: mathematics, geometry, physics, astronomy; specially studied philosophy, theosophy, Koranic studies, history, jurisprudence and the entire complex of philological disciplines included in the concept of medieval education; was well-read in his native poetry, knew perfectly Arabic and Arabic literature, mastered the basics of versification. Omar Khayyam was skilled in astrology and healing, and professionally studied music theory. He became acquainted with the achievements of ancient science - the works of Archimedes, Euclid, Aristotle, translated into Arabic.
Khayyam not only knew the Koran perfectly from memory, but could give an interpretation of any verse of this main book of Muslims. Therefore, even the leading theologians of the East did not consider it shameful for themselves to turn to him for consultations (hence, probably, the title Shoulder of Faith). However, his ideas did not fit into orthodox Islam.
Mathematics became the main focus of his scientific studies. At twenty-five he makes his first scientific discoveries. The mathematical work “Treatise on Proofs of Problems of Algebra and Al-Mukabala” (I don’t know what the latter is used with), written by him in Samarkand in the sixties of the 11th century, brings Omar Khayyam the fame of an outstanding scientist. Patronage rulers began to provide him with patronage.
The rulers of the 11th century competed with each other in the splendor of their retinues, luring educated courtiers from each other, and the most powerful simply demanded that famous scientists and poets be transferred to their court.
The scientific activity of Omar Khayyam first took place in Bukhor at the court of the Karakhanid prince Khakan Shams al-Mulk ( 1068 -1079 ). Chroniclers of the 11th century note that the Bukhara ruler surrounded Omar Khayyam with honor and “seated him next to him on the throne.”
By this time, the huge empire of the Great Seljuks, who came from the nomadic Turkmen Oghuz tribe, had rapidly grown and established itself. IN 1055 year, the Seljuk commander Tugulbek conquered Baghdad and declared himself the sultan, ruler of the new empire. The Caliph finally lost real power, which had great importance to reveal the forces that marked the era of remarkable cultural flourishing, which is called the Eastern Renaissance, the forerunner of the Western Renaissance.
IN 1074 year, Omar Khayyam was invited to serve at the royal court, to the powerful Sultan Malik Shah ( 1072 -1092 ) to the city of Isfahan.
1074 the year has become significant date in the life of Omar Khayyam: she began his twenties summer period its particularly fruitful scientific activity, brilliant in terms of the results achieved.
The city of Isfahan was at that time the capital of a powerful Seljuk power, stretching from Mediterranean Sea in the west to the borders of China in the east. Malik Shah gave his court unprecedented splendor. Medieval authors colorfully describe the luxury of palace decoration, magnificent feasts and city celebrations, royal amusements and hunts. At the court of Malik Shah there was a huge staff of courtiers: guards, squires, gatekeepers, guards and large group panegyrist poets led by one of the largest odopists of the 11th century - Muizzi ( 1049 - mind between 1123 And 1127 ).
During the reign of Sultan Malik Shah, Isfahan became a vital city in the country; many important social, administrative and cultural reforms were born and developed here. Creative government activity and the broad educational transformations that marked these decades, characterized by historians as the period of the highest rise of the Seljuk state, were not due to Sultan Malik Shah (who hardly even owned basic literacy, since among the Turkic aristocracy the ability to ride a horse, shoot a bow and wave a saber was more popular), and the Sultan’s vizier Nizam al-Mulk ( 1018 - 1092 ), the most educated man of his time, who had great talent for government.
He managed to curb the willfulness of the conquerors and establish in the conquered countries for a long period of time relative order and tranquility, necessary for the peaceful work of farmers and artisans. He patronized the development of science, opened in Isfahan and other largest cities- Baghdad, Basra, Nishapur, Balkh, Merv, Herat, - educational and scientific academies; after the name of the vizier they were universally called Nizamiye. For the Isfahan Academy, Nizam al-Mulk erected a majestic building near the Friday (main) mosque itself and invited famous scientists from other cities to Isfahan to teach there. Isfahan, famous for its most valuable collections of handwritten books, has strong cultural traditions (suffice it to say that Abu Ali ibn Sino (980 - 1037 ), the brilliant Avicenna, who lectured in one of the Isfahan madrassas), became active under Nizam al-Mulk scientific center with an influential group of scientists.
Omar Khayyam became an honorary confidant of the Sultan. Legend says that Nizam al-Mulk invited Khayyam to rule Nishapur and the entire surrounding region. Khayyam replied that he did not know how to manage people, order and prohibit. And then Nizam al-Mulk appointed Khayyam an annual salary of 10,000 gold dinars (this is a gigantic amount), so that he could freely engage in science.
Omar Khayyam was invited by Sultan Malik Shah at the insistence of Nizam al-Mulk to manage the palace observatory. Gathering at his court the best astronomers of the century and highlighting the major cash To acquire the most advanced equipment, the Sultan set Omar Khayyam the task of developing a new calendar. In Iran and Central Asia in the 11th century, two calendar systems existed simultaneously: the solar pre-Muslim Zoroastrian calendar and the lunar calendar, introduced by the Arabs along with the Islamization of the population. Both calendar systems were imperfect. The solar Zoroastrian year had 365 days; the correction for unaccounted fractional parts of the day was adjusted only once every 120 years, when the error grew to a whole month. Lunar Muslim year at 355 days it was completely unsuitable for agricultural work.
For five years, Omar Khayyam, together with a group of astronomers, led scientific observations at the observatory, and by March 1079 year they developed a new calendar, different high degree accuracy. This calendar, named after the Sultan who ordered it, “Malikshah’s calendar,” was based on a thirty-three year period, which included 8 leap years; Leap years followed seven times after four years and once after five years. The calculation made it possible to reduce the time difference of the proposed year compared to the tropical year, estimated at 365.2422 days, to nineteen seconds. Consequently, the calendar proposed by Omar Khayyam was seven seconds more accurate than the current one Gregorian calendar(developed in the 16th century), where the annual error is 26 seconds. Khayyam's calendar reform with a thirty-three-year period is assessed by modern scientists as a remarkable discovery. However, it was not brought to practical implementation in due time.
During long hours of work at the observatory, which was one of the best at this time, Omar Khayyam conducted other astronomical research. Based on many years of traffic observations celestial bodies he compiled the “Astronomical Tables of Malikshah” - “Zinji Malik Shahi”. These tables were widespread in the medieval East; unfortunately, they have not survived to this day.
Astronomy in the era of Omar Khayyam was inextricably linked with astrology, which in the Middle Ages was one of the sciences of special practical necessity. Omar Khayyam was one of Malik Shah's closest retinue, that is, one of his nadims - advisers, and, of course, practiced at the royal court as an astrologer. The fame of Omar Khayyam as an astrologer and soothsayer was very great. However, his contemporary, the poet Nizami Aruzi Samarkandi wrote: “Although I witnessed the predictions of the Proof of the Truth of Omar, I did not see in him any faith in predictions from the stars.”
In Isfahan, at the court of Malik Shah, Omar Khayyam continues to study mathematics. At the end 1077 In the year he completed the geometric work “Treatise on the Interpretation of the Difficult Propositions of Euclid.” The mathematical works of Omar Khayyam - two of them have survived to this day (the first is the already mentioned algebraic treatise, written back in the sixties) - contained theoretical conclusions of extreme importance. For the first time in the history of mathematical disciplines, Khayyam gave a complete classification of the main types of equations - linear, square, cubic (twenty-five types in total) and developed a theory for solving cubic equations. It is Omar Khayyam who is credited with first raising the question of the connections between geometry and algebra. Khayyam substantiated the theory of geometric solution of algebraic equations, which led mathematical science to the idea of variable quantities.
The books of Omar Khayyam remained unknown to European scientists for many centuries, the creators of the new higher algebra and non-Euclidean geometry, and they were forced to re-go the long and difficult path that Omar Khayyam had already paved five or six centuries before them. Another mathematical work of Khayyam is “Difficulties of Arithmetic” (the content of this early work, which has not reached our time, Khayyam sets out in an algebraic treatise) - was devoted to the method of extracting roots of any degree from integers; Khayyam’s method was based on a formula that later became known as Newton’s binomial. Also, only from the references available in the works of Khayyam, it is known that he wrote an original treatise developing the mathematical theory of music.
During the Isfahan period, Omar Khayyam also dealt with problems of philosophy, studying with particular care the enormous scientific heritage of Avicenna. Omar Khayyam translated some of his works from Arabic into Farsi, showing a kind of innovation: at that time the role of the language of science was played exclusively by the Arabic language. He was also interested in the works of the famous Arab poet Abu-l-Ala al-Maarri (973- 1057 ).
TO 1080 The first philosophical treatise by Omar Khayyam, “Treatise on Being and Ought”, dates back to the year. It was written in response to a letter from the Imam and Judge of Fars, one of southern provinces Iran. The judge asked “the king of the philosophers of the West and East, Abu-l-Fatah ibn-Ibrahim Khayyam,” to explain how he understands the wisdom of Allah in the creation of the world and man and whether he recognizes the need for prayers. This appeal to Khayyam by the ideologist of Islam was caused by the anti-Islamic statements of the authoritative scientist that had already spread at that time. The letter was intended to encourage Omar Khayyam to openly acknowledge the basic religious tenets of Islam.
In his response treatise, Omar Khayyam, declaring himself a student and follower of Avicenna, expressed his opinions from the philosophical positions of Eastern Aristotelianism. Recognizing the existence of God as the root cause of all things, Khayyam argued, however, that the specific order of phenomena is not the result of divine wisdom, but is determined in each particular case by the laws of nature itself. Khayyam’s views, which noticeably diverged from official Muslim dogma, were presented in the treatise in a restrained and concise manner, in the Aesopian language of omissions and allegories. Incomparably more boldly, even defiantly daring, these anti-Islamic sentiments of the scientist found expression in his poems.
The twenty-year relatively calm period of Omar Khayyam’s life at the court of Malik Shah ended at the end 1092 the year when the Sultan died under unclear circumstances; a month earlier, Nizam al-Mulk was killed. Medieval sources attributed the death of these two patrons of Omar Khayyam to the Ismailis.
Ismailism is a religious and political movement, which in this era was directed against the Turkic nobility. The leader of the most radical wing of this movement, Hassan Sabbah, 1090 captured the mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Iran and made it a base for large-scale terrorist activities. Its adherents were known as "Hashishins". This word, which sounded like “assassins” in the European version of pronunciation, entered some European languages with the meaning of killers. Such was their glory.
Mysterious and scary are the stories about the life of Isfahan at this time, when the hashashins began their activities with their tactics of hoaxes, reincarnations, traps and secret murders. Nizam al-Mulk was stabbed to death by an Ismaili who penetrated him under the guise of a dervish - a wandering Muslim monk, and Malik Shah was secretly poisoned. After the death of Malik Shah, the Ismailis terrorized the Isfahan nobility. The fear of secret murders that flooded the city gave rise to suspicions, denunciations and reprisals. A fierce struggle for power began. The empire began to fall apart.
The position of Omar Khayyam at the court of Turkan Khatun, the widow of Malik Shah, was shaken. The Sultana, who did not favor Nizam al-Mulk, did not trust his entourage either. Omar Khayyam continued to work at the observatory for some time, but no longer received either support or the same content. At the same time, he performed the duties of an astrologer and doctor under Turkan Khatun. The story about the episode associated with the complete collapse of the court career of Omar Khayyam has become textbook - some biographers attribute it to 1097 year. The youngest son of Malik Shah Sanjar suffered from chickenpox, and Omar Khayyam, who treated him, had the imprudence to express doubts about the viability of the eleven-year-old boy. The words spoken to the vizier were overheard by a servant and brought to the ears of the sick heir. Sanjar, who later became the sultan who ruled the Seljuk state from 1118 By 1157 year, for the rest of his life he harbored hostility towards Omar Khayyam.
After the death of Malik Shah, Isfahan soon lost its position as a royal residence and the main scientific center. The observatory fell into disrepair and was closed, the capital was moved to Khorosan in the city of Merv. Omar Khayyam leaves the court forever and returns to Nishapur.
Omar Khayyam lived in Nishapur until last days life only sometimes leaving it to visit Bukhora or Balkh and again - for the sake of a long journey - a pilgrimage to Mecca to Muslim shrines. Khayyam taught at the Nishapur madrasah, had a small circle of close students, occasionally received scientists who sought a meeting with him, and participated in scientific debates. Continuing research in the field exact sciences During these years, he wrote a physical treatise “On the art of determining the amount of gold and silver in their alloys.” This treatise, as experts evaluate it today, had great scientific and practical significance for its time.
Testimonies of only two people who personally knew Omar Khayyam have survived. Both of them are his younger contemporaries: the writer and poet Nizami Aruzi of Samarkandi (born in the nineties of the 11th century) and the historian Abu-l-Hasan Ali Beykhaki, a Khorasanian by birth. The meetings mentioned in these famous authors XII century, belong to the Nishapur period of Khayyam’s life, to the years of his old age. Nizami Aruzi had close contact with Khayyam and counted himself among his students and enthusiastic followers. Remembering meetings with him in Balkh in 1112 -1114 years, Nizami Aruzi with the greatest reverence calls Khayyam “Proof of Truth,” all the more honorable since it was this nickname that was awarded to Avicenna by medieval authors.
Beyhaki recalls how, as a teenager, he first saw Omar Khayyam, calling him respectfully “imam,” that is, “spiritual leader.” He speaks with admiration of him as a man with phenomenal memory and unusually broad scientific erudition. Here is one of short stories Beyhaki: “Once in Isfahan, he carefully read one book seven times in a row and memorized it by heart, and when he returned to Nishapur, he dictated it, and when they compared it with the original, they did not find much difference between them.”
Beyhaki notes the harshness of Omar Khayyam and his isolation and the fact that “he was stingy in writing books and teaching.” In that short statement- a tragic collision of the scientific fate of Omar Khayyam, an outstanding scientist of the Middle Ages. The remarkable thinker of the East was able to express his brilliant knowledge, which was far ahead of his era, only in small parts in his writings and pass it on to his students. To judge how difficult the fate of the medieval scientist was in general, we have the testimony of Omar Khayyam himself. In the preface to the algebraic treatise, written in his youth, Khayyam pays a bitter tribute to the memory of the luminaries of thought who perished before his eyes at the hands of religious fanatics during the pogrom of the Nishapur madrasah, and speaks of the almost inevitable alternative facing the scientist of his time: either the path of dishonest adaptation, or the path of reproach.
I quote the authentic words of Omar Khayyam: “I could not properly apply my efforts to work of this kind, nor devote additional thoughts to it, since adversity greatly hampered me public life. I have witnessed the death of men of science, whose number is now reduced to an insignificant handful, as small as their misfortunes are great, upon whom harsh fate has placed the great responsibility of devoting themselves in these difficult times to the improvement of science and scientific research. But the majority of those who currently have the appearance of scientists, disguise lies as truth, do not go beyond the boundaries of deception and boasting, forcing the knowledge they possess to serve selfish and evil purposes. And if a person meets, worthy in his pursuit of truth and love of justice, who strives to discard vanity and lies, to abandon boasting and deception, then he becomes the subject of ridicule and hatred.”
The last period of Omar Khayyam’s life was extremely difficult, associated with hardships and melancholy generated by spiritual loneliness. In these Nishapur years, Khayyam’s fame as an outstanding mathematician and astronomer was supplemented by the seditious fame of a freethinker and apostate. Khayyam's philosophical views aroused the malicious irritation of the zealots of Islam.
The scientific and philosophical heritage of Omar Khayyam is small. Unlike his predecessor, Avicenna, Khayyam did not give a holistic philosophical system that he developed. Khayyam's treatises touch upon only certain, albeit among the most important, issues of philosophy. Some of the works were written, like the first philosophical treatise mentioned above, in response to requests from individual clergy or secular persons. Five philosophical works of Khayyam have survived to this day. In addition to the “Treatise on Being and Ought” there is also “An Answer to Three Questions: the Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism and Eternity”, “Light of Reason on the Subject of Universal Science”, “Treatise on Existence” and “Book on Demand (about all things)” . They are all short, concise, sometimes taking up several pages.
Clashes with the clergy took on such a dangerous character for Omar Khayyam that he was forced, in his middle age, to make a long and hard way pilgrimage to Mecca. Sources write: “in order to save his eyes, ears and head, Sheikh Omar Khayyam undertook the hajj.” Traveling to holy places in that era sometimes lasted for years. For some time, Omar Khayyam settled in Baghdad, where he taught at the Nizamiye Academy.
Upon returning from the Hajj, Omar Khayyam settled in a secluded house in a village near Nishapur. According to medieval biographers, he was not married and had no children. Khayyam lived in seclusion, experiencing a feeling of constant danger due to incessant persecution and suspicion.
The year of death of Omar Khayyam is unknown. The most likely date of his death is considered to be 1123 year. From the depths of the 12th century, the story of Khayyam’s last hours has reached us. Abu-l-Hasan Beyhaki heard it from one of his relatives. On this day, Omar Khayyam carefully read Avicenna’s “Book of Healing.” Having reached the section “Single and Plural,” he put a toothpick between two sheets of paper and asked to call necessary people to make a will. He did not eat or drink all that day. In the evening, having finished the last prayer, he bowed to the ground and said: “Oh God, you know that I have come to know you to the best of my ability. Forgive me, my knowledge of you is my path to you.” And he died.
In conclusion, I will give a story about a visit to the grave of Omar Khayyam by his admirer Nizami Aruzi Samarkandi. "In the year 1113 in Balkh, on Slaver Street, writes Nizami Aruzi, Hajja Imam Khayyam and Hajja Imam Muzaffar Isfizari stayed in the house of Abu Said Jarre, and I joined in serving them. During the meal, I heard Proof of Truth Omar say: “My grave will be located in a place where every spring the breeze will shower me with flowers.” These words surprised me, but I knew that such a person would not speak empty words. When in the year 1136 I arrived in Nishapur, four years have passed since that great one covered his face with a blanket of earth and low world orphaned without him. And for me he was a mentor.
On Friday I went to venerate his ashes, taking a man with me to show me his grave. He took me to Khaire Cemetery. I turned left and at the foot of the wall enclosing the garden I saw his grave. Pear and apricot trees hung from the garden and, spreading flowering branches over the grave, the entire grave was hidden under flowers. And those words that I heard from him in Balkh came to my memory, and I burst into tears, for on the entire surface of the earth I would not have seen more for him. suitable place. May God, the Holy and the Most High, prepare a place for him in heavenly tabernacles with your mercy and generosity!"
Omar Khayyam (Giyas ad-Din Abu-l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim) (1048-1131)
Persian and Tajik poet, mathematician and philosopher. Elementary education received in his hometown, then in the largest centers of science of that time: Balkh, Samarkand, etc.
Around 1069, in Samarkand, Khayyam wrote a treatise “On the proofs of problems in algebra and allukabala.” In 1074 he headed the largest astronomical observatory in Isfahan.
In 1077 he completed work on the book “Comments on the Difficult Postulates of the Book of Euclid.” After two years, the calendar comes into effect. IN last years XI century The ruler of Isfahan changes and the observatory closes.
Khayyam makes a pilgrimage to Mecca. In 1097, he worked as a doctor in Khorasan and wrote a treatise in Farsi, “On the Universality of Being.”
Khayyam spends the last 10-15 years of his life in solitude in Nishapur, communicating little with people. According to historians, in last hours During his life, Omar Khayyam read the “Book of Healing” by Ibn Sina (Avicenna). He reached the section “On Unity and Universality,” put a toothpick on the book, stood up, prayed and died.
Khayyam's creativity -an amazing phenomenon in the cultural history of the peoples of Central Asia and Iran, of all humanity. His discoveries in the field of physics, mathematics, and astronomy have been translated into many languages of the world. His poems, “stinging like a snake,” still captivate with their utmost capacity, laconicism, imagery, and simplicity. visual arts and flexible rhythm. Khayyam's philosophy brings him closer to the humanists of the Renaissance (“The goal of the creator and the pinnacle of creation is we”). He denounced existing orders, religious dogmas and vices that reigned in society, considering this world temporary and transitory.
Theologians and philosophers of that time were of the opinion that eternal life and bliss can only be found after death. All this is reflected in the poet’s work. However, he also loved real life, protested against her imperfections and called to enjoy every moment of her.
Any quatrain of Khayyam is a small poem. He cut the form of the quatrain, like gemstone, approved the internal laws of the Rubai, and in this area Khayyam has no equal.
Presumably in 1048, on May 18, in the north-east of Iran, in the city of Nishapur, Omar Khayyam (full name - Omar Khayyam Ghiyasaddin Obul-Fakht ibn Ibrahim) - an outstanding Tajik and Persian poet, Sufi philosopher, mathematician - was born in the north-east of Iran, in the city of Nishapur. , astronomer, astrologer.
He was an extremely gifted child; at the age of 8 he was already actively learning the basics of mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, and knew the Koran from memory. As a 12-year-old teenager, Omar began studying at a madrasah in his hometown. He completed the course in Islamic law and medicine with excellent marks, however, having qualified as a doctor, Omar Khayyam did not connect his life with medicine: he was much more interested in the work of mathematicians.
After the death of his parents, Khayyam sold their house and workshop and moved to Samarkand, which was then a cultural and scientific center. Having entered the madrasah as a student, he soon demonstrated such education in debates that he was immediately elevated to the rank of mentor.
Like the great scientists of his era, Omar Khayyam did not live in any city for very long. Therefore, he left Samarkand just 4 years later, moved to Bukhara and began working there in a book depository. During the 10 years he lived here, he wrote four fundamental works on mathematics.
It is known that in 1074 he was invited by the Seljuk Sultan Melik Shah I to Isfahan, and at the instigation of the vizier Nizam al-Mulk became the spiritual mentor of the ruler. Khayyam was also the head of a large observatory at court, gradually becoming a famous astronomer. The group of scientists he led created a fundamentally new calendar, officially adopted in 1079. The solar calendar, which was given the name “Jalali,” turned out to be more accurate than the Julian and Gregorian. Khayyam also compiled the Malikshah Astronomical Tables. When the patrons died in 1092, Omar's biography began to new stage: he was accused of freethinking, so he left the Sanjar state.
Poetry brought Omar Khayyam worldwide fame. His quatrains - rubai - are a call to the knowledge of earthly happiness, albeit fleeting; they are characterized by the pathos of personal freedom, free-thinking, depth philosophical thought, combined with imagery, flexibility of rhythm, clarity, conciseness and capacity of style.
It is not known whether all of the rubai attributed to Khayyam are genuine, but 66 quatrains with a fairly high degree of reliability can be attributed specifically to his work. The poetry of Omar Khayyam stands somewhat apart from Persian poetry, although it is an integral part of it. It was Khayyam who became the only author whose lyrical hero is an autonomous person, alienated from God and the king, not recognizing violence, acting as a rebel.
Omar Khayyam gained fame mainly as a poet, however, if not for his activities in the literary field, he would still remain in the history of science as an outstanding mathematician and the author of innovative works. In particular, in the treatise “On the proof of problems of algebra and almukabala” in geometric form he was given a presentation of solutions to cubic equations; in his treatise “Comments on the Difficult Postulates of the Book of Euclid,” he put forward an original theory of parallel lines.
Omar Khayyam was loved, highly respected, and honored. He died in his homeland; this happened on December 4, 1131.
What family did Omar Khayyam come from? Why did he quit hometown and went to Samarkand? Who became Khayyam's patron? In which field of science has the scientist achieved the greatest results? Why did he have to leave the observatory in Isfahan and return to his native Nishapur? What was unique about the calendar developed by the scientist? Thanks to whom did Khayyam's rubai gain enormous popularity in the 19th century? Was Omar Khayyam really a poet, and if not, who is the author of satirical poems?
early years
Omar Khayyam was born on May 18, 1048 in Nishapur, which at that time was part of the Seljuk Sultanate, and is now located in Iran. Install the exact date The birth of the scientist was helped by a horoscope, which was compiled personally by the historian Abu-l-Hasan Beyhaki, who knew him. And it was possible to find out about Khayyam’s origins thanks to his full name. Ibn Ibrahim means that his father's name was Ibrahim, and Khayyam translates as tent maker. Thus, we can assume that he came from a family of artisans.
Apparently, the father was not a poor man, since he was able to give his son a decent education. Khayyam studied in Nishapur, which was one of the largest cultural centers, with rich libraries and schools of the most different types. After his father and mother died during the epidemic, he sold his house and workshop and went to Samarkand.
It was in Samarkand, which was a scientific center recognized in the East, that Khayyam’s path as a scientist and poet began. His knowledge of mathematics and astronomy so amazed the sages of the city that he was immediately made a mentor. The writing of the first dates back to the same time. scientific work Lobster, which unfortunately has not survived. Some sources say that it was called "Problems of Arithmetic." Four years later, Khayyam moved to Bukhara, where he worked in a book storage facility for 10 years. This period in his life was one of the most fruitful.
great scientist
In Bukhara, Omar Khayyam wrote four mathematical treatises. Now researchers say that he was ahead of his time in many ways. The scientist outlined an algebraic method for solving quadratic equations and the geometric method for solving cubic ones. He first spoke about algebra as a science, noting that its task is to determine unknown quantities. Omar also achieved great success in geometry. In his treatise “Comments on the difficulties in the introductions of the book of Euclid,” Khayyam essentially proved the first theorems of the geometries of Riemann and Lobachevsky.
To understand the life of the then scientist, you need to know one detail. In that era, scientists and sages were free people. They wandered from city to city, bringing science to those who needed it. As a rule, rulers patronized them. Trying to look worthy in the eyes of other rulers and their subjects, they surrounded themselves with scientists. This was the case with Omar Khayyam.
In Bukhara, Khayyam was at the court of Nizam al-Mulk. They say that the prince seated him next to him on the throne and even offered to become the ruler of Nishapur, but he refused. Then, when the Great Seljuk Empire established itself in Iran, Khayyam was invited to the court of the powerful Sultan Malik Shah in the city of Isfahan. Here he spent 20 years, most of which he managed a huge observatory.
The Sultan ordered Khayyam to draw up a new calendar, since neither the lunar nor solar Zoroastrian calendar was suitable in practice. After 5 years, the scientist together with the group
th astronomers were able to achieve amazing results by developing a new calendar, which was called the Malikshakh chronology. Its uniqueness was that it was seven seconds more accurate than the modern Gregorian calendar.
In addition to astronomy and mathematics, Omar Khayyam wrote works on philosophy, history, theosophy, and philology. He knew Arabic language and literature perfectly, practiced healing and studied music professionally. Khayyam skillfully composed poetry, the widespread use of which in the 19th century aroused interest in his personality. During the 20 years spent in Isfahan, Omar Khayyam became one of the largest scientists in the East.
Freethinking Poet
Khayyam's quiet life ended in 1092 with the death of his patrons - al-Mulk and Malik Shah. The Ismailis, led by Hasan Sabbah, who came to power, did not see the need for a scientist. He still worked at the observatory for some time, until it was closed and Isfahan lost its cultural significance.
Omar Khayyam left the court and returned to Nishapur, where he spent the rest of his days. He taught and continued to write scientific works. It is believed that it was in the last years of his life that Khayyam gained fame as a freethinker and apostate. The reason for this was the spread of his poems, which praised pleasure and trampled morality.
Perhaps no one would have ever known about the existence of Omar Khayyam if not for the English poet Edward Fitzgerald, who lived in the 19th century. By a lucky chance, a notebook with poems fell into his hands, which historians immediately attributed to the medieval scientist. The authorship of this notebook is still controversial, but the fact is that by the will of fate, Fitzgerald became the popularizer of Khayyam. He translated his poems first into Latin and then into English.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the rubai of Omar Khayyam gained incredible popularity. They aroused interest in his personality, and Khayyam was rediscovered, now as a great scientist. However, his scientific achievements still remain unknown to most people. But there is no person who has not heard about the rubai and their author - the great Omar Khayyam.
The date of death of the scientist and poet is considered to be December 4, 1131. His contemporary, historian Abu-l-Hasan Beykhaki, writes that on this day Khayyam, as usual, conducted classes, and then read Avicenna’s “Book of Healing” for a long time. Finally, he called the necessary people and made a will, and in the evening he prayed, praised the Lord and died.
IN Lately there was evidence that most of poems attributed to Omar Khayyam are the authorship of another person or several people. And it is even possible that there were two Khayyams: one was a great scientist, the other was a wandering drunkard, putting worldly wisdom into his magnificent rubies. It is unlikely that we will ever know the truth. We are left to wonder scientific discoveries scientist and admire the poems of the poet, known throughout the world under the name of Omar Khayyam.
