Archives

Zwei deutsche Chajjam-Gesellschaften und ihre Gründer

Zwei deutsche Chajjam-Gesellschaften und ihre Gründer. Eine Spurensuche. Wilfried W. Meijer
In: Persica, vol. 28, (2023-2024), p. 59-127

Part of the Omar Khayyám story in the West is the history of the so called Omar Khayyám clubs. The first one was the Omar Khayyám Club of Londen, established in 1890 and still existing. A second club was the Omar Khayyám Club of America, founded in 1920. A century after the English club a Dutch club was founded in 1990, that too is still alive: the Nederlands Omar Khayyám Genootschap. However, there was also a club in Germany: die Deutsche Chajjam Gesellschaft (DCG) in Tübingen. Other than the mentioned clubs this Gesellschaft was rather a company or enterprise than a society. Its primary purpose was publishing and promoting the work of its founder, Chr. Rempis, who contributed significantly to the study and understanding of Khayyám’s rubáiyát. Unknown to this day however is the story of a second German Gesellschaft. It was founded in Osnabrück in 1949 by Th.F.K. Krohm. Whereas the Tübingen Gesellschaft became known through Rempis’ translations and studies, the Osnabrück club hardly evoked publicity despite its ambitious name: die Omar Khayyam-Gesellschaft zur Pflege iranischer Literatur (OKG).

The Works of Omar Khayyam in the History of Mathematics

The Works of Omar Khayyam in the History of Mathematics. Thomas Bisom
In: The Mathematics Enthusiast, 18 (2021), nrs. 1 & 2, p. 290-305

The exact time when the mathematician Omar Khayyam lived is not well-defined, but it is generally agreed upon that he lived from the end of the 11th century to the beginning of the 12th century C.E. in Nishapur, which is in modern-day Iran and Afghanistan (Struik, 1958). Other than mathematics, Omar Khayyam also made considerable contributions to other fields, such as astronomy, philosophy, and poetry (Struik, 1958). He is probably most famous for his poem titled Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which was translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Struik, 1958). Although famous for his poetry, he was professionally inclined to astronomy and mathematics. In mathematics, he is well-known for being the first individual to find positive root solutions to multiple cubic equations, and he is also known for furthering understanding of the parallel axiom (Eves, 1958, p. 285; Struik, 1958). In this report, details of Omar Khayyam’s life will be mentioned, but the focus will be on his contributions to mathematics and his role in the history of mathematics.
Open Access

Omar Khayyám (1040/62 -1131/32) y la filosofía árabe

Omar Khayyám (1040/62 -1131/32) y la filosofía árabe. Martín González Fernández.
Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval, 21 (2014), pp. 119-130.

This article analyzes the figure of Omar Khayyam (Nîsâbur, Persia, ca. 1040/62, – ca. 1131/32, Nîsâbur) by looking at his famous quatrains or rubayat, focusing on the reception and review of the Arab philosophies of his time, and the defense that he makes of Persian Archaic, Zoroastrian, Mazdean and Manichean culture and philosophy.

Omar Khayyam: Abhandlung Über Die Teilung Eines Viertelkreises

Omar Khayyam: Abhandlung Über Die Teilung Eines Viertelkreises. S. Linden.
Mathematische Semesterberichte, 59 (2012) 1, pp. 103-125.

Wir geben die erste Übersetzung ins Deutsche der „Abhandlung über die Teilung eines Viertelkreises“ des persischen Universalgelehrten ̒Umar H̬ayām (1048–1131). In dieser Abhandlung, von der ein einziges handschriftliches Manuskript erhalten ist, wird die Aufabe der Teilung eines Viertelkreises in einem gegebenen Verhältnis zurückgeführt auf eine Gleichung dritten Grades. Diese Gleichung wird dann mithilfe des Schnittes von Kegelschnitten gelöst. Die insgesamt drei überlieferten mathematischen Abhandlungen ̒Umar H̬ayāms, verfasst in Arabischer Sprache, sind bisher übersetzt worden ins Französische, ins Englische, ins Russische, und ins Persische. Dem deutschsprachigen Leser, der sich für die Geschichte der Mathematik interessiert, offenbart sich an dieser Stelle also eine Lücke. Wir beginnen hiermit, diese Lücke zu schließen. Der Übersetzung der Abhandlung ist eine kurze Einleitung zum mathematischen Werk ̒Umar H̬ayāms vorangestellt.

Nation and Memory. Commemorations and the Construction of National Memory under Reza Shah

Nation and Memory. Commemorations and the Construction of National Memory under Reza Shah. Afshin Marashi.
In: Nationalizing Iran. Culture, power, and the state, 1870-1940. Afshin Marashi. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2011. ISBN 9780295800615

On a Fall morning in November 1934, several dozen european orientalists made a pilgrimage to pay their respects at the mausoleum of Omar Khayyam, the thirteenth-century Persian poet whose famous Rubaiyat had long been canonized as a masterpiece of Persian literature. The group of pilgrims included such luminaries in the study of Iranian art, literature, and culture as Henri Massé, Jan Rypka, Arthur Christensen, and Vladimir Minorsky. The gathering at Omar Khayyam’s grave was more than a casual homage, it was what the French historian Pierre Nora described as a lieu de mémoire, a symbolic event, site, or object designed to “inhibit forgetting, to fix a state of things, to immortalize death, and to materialize the immaterial . . . all in order to capture the maximum possible meaning with the fewest possible signs.”

Omar Khayyam: Poet, Rebel, Astronomer

Omar Khayyam: Poet, Rebel, Astronomer. Hazhir Teimourian. Stroud, Sutton, 2007. xiv, 365 p. Illustrated. ISBN: 978-0750947152

Summary:
This book claims to be detailed study of Khayyám’s life and world. It tells how Khayyám was persecuted for his philosophical beliefs and rebellious poems, how the two rival worlds of Christianity and Islam slowly moved towards their most violent embrace. It also tells the story of the Rubaiyat and gives a new translation of fifty quatrains, including FitzGerald’s first version.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Prologue – Four True Graveside Stories
1. The Fire Temples of Nishápur (1048–67)
2. The Libraries of Samarkand (1068–72)
3. The Throne Room of Bukhara (1072–73)
4. The Palaces of Isfahan (1073–77)
5. The Boy Triumphs (1077–79)
6. The Vizier Regrets (1079–84)
7. The Shah Applauds (1085–89)
8. The Assassin Stalks (1090–92)
9. The Queen Turns (1092–93)
10. The Pilgrim of Babel (1093–94)
11. The Recluse of Nishápur (1094–1108)
12. The Sage of Khorásán (1108–31)
Epilogue – The Story of the Rubáiyát
Appendix I – The Rubáiyát: A New Translation
Appendix II – The FitzGerald Translation of 1859
Appendix III – Omar the Greek
Appendix IV – Khayyám’s Mathematics and Other Writings
Principal Characters
Family Tree of the Saljuq Royal House
Map of the Saljuq Empire at the Time of Malik-Shah’s death
Chronology
Notes
Selected bibliography
Index

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A famous poem and its influence

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A famous poem and its influence. Edited by William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London; New York; Delhi, Anthem press, 2011. xi, 170 p. ISBN: 9780857287700.

Summary

The book presents the text of Edward FitzGerald’s three main versions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in an easily accessible form, together with a non-technical commentary on the origins, role and influence of the poem. The reader is given a chance to evaluate each of FitzGerald’s alternative texts as a whole and to examine how the poet presented his texts to the public and annotated the verses. The commentary discusses the lives and work of Khayyám and FitzGerald, and recounts the fascinating story the publication of the Rubáiyát and its rise to great fame and popularity, including a look at the wide-ranging spin-offs the poem has generated in art, music and other fields. The editors use the latest research to analyze the poem’s worldwide influence during the 150 years since its first appearance and the continuing relevance of the poem in the world of the 21st century.