Umar Khayyām

Japanese: オマル・ハイヤーム（英語表記）`Umar Khayyām

[Born] 1048. Nishapur
[Died] 1131. Nishapur Persian poet and scientist. His pen name, Khayyam, means "tentmaker," and was probably taken from his father's occupation. During his lifetime, he was known more as a great scientist than as a poet. He was protected by Malik Shah of the Seljuk Empire, and was active in astronomical observations and participated in the creation of the Jalali calendar. He was well versed in astronomy and mathematics, and wrote many scientific books in Arabic. He established the "Age of Omar Khayyam" in the history of medieval science, and left a great mark on it. His Persian Rubā`īyāt (a collection of quatrains), which he composed in his spare time, was translated into English by the British poet E. Fitzgerald in the mid-19th century, and he has since been highly regarded as a poet as well. Today, he is the most famous Persian poet in the world. His poetry is based on rationalistic pessimism, materialistic atheism, fatalism, and agnosticism, emphasizes philosophical ephemeralism, and has almost no religious overtones. The Rubaiyat is thought to contain a significant amount of work by other poets, and its authenticity has been the subject of debate among scholars since the 19th century and continues to this day.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1048. ニーシャープール
[没]1131. ニーシャープール
ペルシアの詩人，科学者。雅号ハイヤームは「天幕作り」を意味し，おそらく父の職業からとったものであろう。在世中は詩人としてより偉大な科学者として知られ，セルジューク朝のマリク・シャーの保護を受け，天文観測で活躍，ジャラーリー暦制定に参加した。天文学，数学に精通，多くの科学書をアラビア語で著わし，中世科学史上に「オマル・ハイヤームの時代」を築き，偉大な足跡を残した。余暇にペルシア語で詠んだ『ルバーイヤート』 Rubā`īyāt (四行詩集) が 19世紀の中頃イギリスの詩人 E.フィッツジェラルドによって英訳され，以来詩人としても高く評価されるようになった。今日では世界的に最も有名なペルシア詩人である。彼の詩は，合理主義的悲観論，唯物主義的無神論，宿命論，不可知論が底流をなし，哲学的刹那主義が強調され，宗教的色彩はほとんどない。『ルバーイヤート』にはほかの詩人たちの作品もかなり混入していると思われ，真偽の判定は 19世紀以来諸学者の論議の的となって今日に及んでいる。

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