The story of Omar Khayyām is essentially a modern one despite the passage of ten centuries. It tells how a mathematical genius was persecuted in Persia for his admiration of Greek philosophers and for his rebellious poems; how the two worlds of Christianity and Islam slowly moved towards their most violent embrace in the First Crusade of 1096; and how a companion of emperors and queens was abandoned to the mob once the appeasement of enraged mullahs became more important in a dynastic war than the life-long devotion of a friend, doctor, astronomer and musician.
Omar Khayyām has been the world’s favourite poet since the late nineteenth century. His slim book of poems, the Rubāiyāt, as translated by Edward FitzGerald, has become a masterpiece of English literature in its own right, contributing, it is said, more phrases, weight by weight , to the English language than the Bible and Shakespeare combined. The consequences have been spectacular. Astronomers have named a crater on the moon after him and some mathematicians regard him as one of the top ten intellects in history.
Yet this biography is the first detailed study of his life and his world to merit the description. Such was the excitement during the preparation of this book that the Chinese national radio interviewed its author and the BBC’s Today Programme devoted a chunk of its time to mark its publication.
Omar Khayyām has been the world’s favourite poet since the late nineteenth century. His slim book of poems, the Rubāiyāt, as translated by Edward FitzGerald, has become a masterpiece of English literature in its own right, contributing, it is said, more phrases, weight by weight , to the English language than the Bible and Shakespeare combined. The consequences have been spectacular. Astronomers have named a crater on the moon after him and some mathematicians regard him as one of the top ten intellects in history.
Yet this biography is the first detailed study of his life and his world to merit the description. Such was the excitement during the preparation of this book that the Chinese national radio interviewed its author and the BBC’s Today Programme devoted a chunk of its time to mark its publication.
