Omar Khayyam: Biography. Omar Khayyam: interesting facts from life

Omar Khayyam, whose brief biography is presented in this article, was born in Nishapur on May 18, 1048. Nishapur is located in the east of Iran, in the cultural province of Khorasan. This city was a place where many people from different regions of Iran and even from neighboring countries came to the fair. In addition, Nishapur is considered one of the main cultural centers of that time in Iran. In the city from the 11th century there were madrasahs - high and medium schools. In one of them Omar Khayyam studied.

Biography in Russian implies the translation of proper names. However, sometimes readers need an English version, for example, when you need to find materials in English. How to translate: "Omar Khayyam: biography"? "Omar Khayyam: biography" is the right version.

Childhood and youth of Khayyam

Unfortunately, information about them is not enough, as well as information about the lives of many famous people of ancient times. Biography of Omar Khayyam in childhood and adolescence is marked by the fact that he lived in Nishapur. There is no information about his family. The nickname Khayyam, as we know, means "tent master", "tent". This allows researchers to make the assumption that his father was a representative of craft circles. The family, in any case, had the means to suffice to provide his son with a decent education.

The training marks his further biography. Omar Khayyam first learned the sciences in the Nisharpur Madrasah, which at that time was known as an aristocratic educational institution, which prepared for the civil service of major officials. After that, Omar continued his education in Samarkand and Balkh.

The knowledge gained by Khayyam

He possessed many natural and exact sciences: geometry, mathematics, astronomy, physics. Omar also studied history, Koranology, theosophy, philosophy and a complex of philological disciplines, which was part of the notion of education at that time. He knew Arabic literature, he was fluent in Arabic, and he also knew the basics of versification. Omar was skilled in healing and astrology, and also studied music theory.

Khayyam knew the Koran perfectly well, could interpret any ayah. Therefore, even the most prominent theologians of the East turned to Omar for consultations. His ideas, however, did not fit in Islam in his orthodox understanding.

The first discoveries in the field of mathematics

The first discoveries in the field of mathematics are his further biography. Omar Khayyam made this science the main direction of his studies. At the age of 25 he makes his first discoveries in mathematics. In the 60s of the 11th century he published work on this science, which brings him the fame of an outstanding scientist. Patronizing rulers begin to patronize him.

Life at the court of Hakan Shams al-Mulka

The rulers of the 11th century competed with each other in the splendor of the suite. They lured educated courtiers. The most influential simply demanded the court of famous poets and scientists. This fate did not pass Omar. The service at the court was marked and his biography.

Omar Khayyam first conducted his scientific work at the court of Prince Hakan Shams al-Mulka, in Bukhoro. According to the testimony of 11th-century chroniclers, the Bukharian ruler surrounded Omar with honor and even put him on the throne next to him.

Invitation to Isfahan

By that time, the empire of the Great Seljuks had grown and established itself. Tugulbek, the Seljuk ruler, conquered Baghdad in 1055. He declared himself the ruler of the new empire, the Sultan. The Caliph lost power, and this marked an era of cultural heyday, called the Eastern Renaissance.

These events also affected the fate of Omar Khayyam. His biography continues with a new period. Omar Khayyam in 1074 was invited to the royal court to serve in the city of Isfahan. At this time, Sultan Malik Shah ruled. This year was marked by the beginning of a 20-year period of his fruitful scientific activity, according to the achieved results, which turned out to be brilliant. At this time the city of Isfahan was the capital of the Seljuk state, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the borders of China.

Life at the court of Malik Shah

Omar became an honorary approximate of the great sultan. According to legend, Nizam al-Mulk even suggested that he manage Nishapur and the surrounding area. Omar said that he does not know how to prohibit and order what is necessary to control people. Then the sultan appointed him a salary of 10 thousand gold dinars a year (a huge amount) so that Khayyam could easily engage in science.

Management of the Observatory

Khayyam was invited to manage the palace observatory. Sultan assembled the best astronomers at his court and allocated large sums for the purchase of expensive equipment. Before Omar was tasked to create a new calendar. In the 11th century, two systems simultaneously existed in Central Asia and Iran: the solar and lunar calendars. Both were imperfect. By March, 1079 the task was solved. The calendar proposed by Khayyam was 7 seconds more accurate than the current Gregorian (developed in the 16th century)!

Omar Khayyam conducted astronomical observations in the observatory. In his era, astronomy was closely associated with astrology, which in the Middle Ages was a science of practical necessity. And Omar was part of the retinue of Malik Shah as his counselor and astrologer. His glory as a soothsayer was very great.

New achievements in mathematics

At the court in Isfahan, Omar Khayyam was also engaged in mathematics. In 1077 he created a geometric work dedicated to the interpretation of the difficult positions of Euclid. For the first time he gave an exhaustive classification of the main types of equations - cubic, square, linear (total 25 species), and also created a theory of solving cubic equations. It was he who first raised the question of the connection between the science of geometry and algebra.

For a long time, Hayam's books were an unknown European scientist who created non-Euclidean geometry and a new higher algebra. And they had to go through an uneasy and long journey, which for five or six centuries before them had already been laid by Khayyam.

Classes in philosophy

Khayyam also dealt with problems of philosophy, studying the scientific heritage of Avicenna. He translated some of his works into Farsi from Arabic, demonstrating innovation, because at that time the role of the language of science was played by the Arabic language.

The first philosophical treatise of it was created in 1080 ("Treatise on Being and Obligation"). Khayyam said that he is a follower of Avicenna, and also expressed his views on Islam from the standpoint of Eastern Aristotelianism. Omar, recognizing the existence of God as the primary cause of existence, argued that the specific order of things is determined by the laws of nature, this is not the result of divine wisdom. These views strongly disagreed with Muslim dogmatism. In the treatise they were presented in a concise and restrained manner, the Aesopian language of allegories and omissions. Omar Khayyam expressed much more boldly, sometimes defiantly defiantly, anti-Islamic sentiments in poetry.

Biography: Hayama verses

He wrote poetry only rubai, i.e. Quatrains, in which the 1st, 2nd, 4th or all four stanzas rhymed. He created them throughout his life. Khayyam never wrote eulogies to rulers. Rubais were not a serious form of poetry, and as poet Omar Khayyam did not recognize contemporaries. And he himself did not attach much importance to his poems. They arose, most likely, impromptu, in passing.

Broken position of Omar at court

At the end of 1092, the 20-year quiet period of his life at the court of Malik-Shah was broken. At this time the Sultan died under unclear circumstances. And Nizam al-Mulk was killed a month before. The death of the two protectors of Khayyam sources of the Middle Ages is attributed to the Ismailis, representatives of the religious and political movement directed against the Turkic nobility. After the death of Malik Shah, they terrorized the Isfahan nobility. Massacres and denunciations were born of fear of the secret murders that flooded the city. The struggle for power began, the great empire began to fall apart.

The situation of Omar at the court of the widow of Malik Shah Turkan-Khatun was also shaken. The woman did not trust the approximate Nizam al-Mulk. Omar Khayyam worked for a while at the observatory, but he did not receive any previous content or support. At the same time, he served as a doctor and astrologer at the Turkan-Hatun.

How did Khayyam's court career end?

The story of how his court career was wrecked, became today a textbook. It is dated to 1097. Sanjar, the youngest son of Malik Shah, once fell ill with chicken pox, and Khayyam, who treated him, inadvertently questioned that the 11-year-old boy will recover. The words spoken by the vizier were overheard by the servant and passed on to the sick heir. Later became Sultan, who ruled the Seljuk state from 1118 to 1157, Sanjar hated hostility to Khayyam for his whole life.

After the death of Malik-Shah, Isfahan lost the position of the main scientific center and the royal residence. It came to desolation and, in the end, the observatory was closed, and the capital was moved to Merv (Horosan). Omar left the yard forever, returned to Nishapur.

Life in Nishapur

Here he lived until his death, only occasionally leaving the city to visit Balkh or Bukhora. In addition, he made a long pilgrimage to the Muslim shrines in Mecca. Khayyam taught at the Nishapur Madrasah. He had a small circle of students. Sometimes he accepted scientists who sought meetings with him, took part in scientific disputes.

The last period of his life was extremely difficult, connected with deprivation, as well as with anguish, which was engendered by spiritual loneliness. In the Nishapur years to the glory of Omar as an astronomer and mathematician, the glory of the apostate and freethinker was added. The anger of the adherents of Islam was evoked by his philosophical views.

The scientific-philosophical heritage of Khayyam

Biography of Omar Khayyam (short) does not allow us to speak about his works in detail. We only note that his scientific and philosophical heritage is not large. Unlike Avicenna, his predecessor, Khayyam did not create an integral philosophical system. His treatises are concerned only with specific issues of philosophy, albeit the most important ones. Some of them were written in response to a request from secular or clerical persons. Up to now, only five philosophical works of Omar have survived. All of them are laconic, concise, sometimes occupy only a few pages.

Pilgrimage to Mecca and life in the village

After a while clashes with the clergy became so dangerous that Khayyam was forced to make a difficult and long pilgrimage to Mecca (in the already middle-aged years). In this era, the journey to holy places lasted for years. Omar settled for some time in Baghdad. Teaching in Nizamiye was marked by his biography.

Omar Khayyam, whose life is unfortunately known not so much, after returning home, began to live in a village near Nishapur in a secluded house. According to medieval biographers, he was not married and had no children. He lived in seclusion, in constant danger because of suspicion and persecution.

How did Omar Khayyam spend his last hours?

The biography short in Russian of this scientist, philosopher and poet was written by many authors. All sources agree that the year of his death is not known exactly. The most probable date is 1123. From the source of the 12th century, we heard a story about how Khayyam spent the last hours of his life. This story was heard from his relative Abu-l-Hasan Beihaqi. On this day, Omar carefully studied the "Book of Healing" written by Avicenna. Having reached the section "One and Multiple," Khayyam put a toothpick between the sheets and asked to call the right people in order to make a will. Omar did not eat or drink all this day. After finishing the last prayer, in the evening he bowed to the ground. Then Khayyam said, turning to God, that he knew him as much as possible, and that his knowledge is the way to him. And he died. In the photo below - his grave in Nishapur.

What other sources can you learn about the life of such a person as Omar Khayyam? The biography of TSB (Great Soviet Encyclopedia) will suit you, if only basic information about it is enough. You can also refer to the publications of Hayam's books, in the preface to which the descriptions of his life are often given. We provided only basic information about such a person as Omar Khayyam. Biography, his nationality, stories from his life, poems and treatises - all this and to this day, many people are interested. This speaks of the great significance of the heritage that he left, of the great role in the history of the personality of Omar Khayyam.