Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Author:Edward Fitzgerald & A.S. Byatt Omar Khayyam was an eleventh-century Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer. Renowned in his own time for his scientific achievements, his fame was reborn in the 19th century when Edward FitzGerald published a translation of his rubaiyat (quatrains in a style popular among Persian intellectuals of his day). Though FitzGerald happily confess... more »ed to taking liberties with Khayyam's verse, he brilliantly captured their timeless wisdom & passion. Khayyam died in the early 12th century.« less