We need to know more about Khayyam

A number of Persian scholars, poets and officials gathered at the mausoleum of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) in his homeland of Neyshabur on Friday to celebrate the national day of the great Iranian mathematician, astronomer and poet.

The city also hosted several other meetings, seminars and workshops of photography, calligraphy and sculptures on Khayyam.

The Khayyam Neyshaburi School in his hometown celebrated Khayyam by ringing its bell in honor of the great figure of Persian classical literature on Wednesday. 

In a speech, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said: Many philosophers, astronomers and mathematicians also said poetry, but Khayyam was amongst all stars and in all domains. Khayyam was the astronomer who created Jalali's calendar, a mathematician and philosopher who dubbed Hojjat al-Haq and a poet whose poetry was like water.

The Minister of the Guidance said that Khayyam was an Iranian and international star in all of these field.

In the end, Salehi emphasized: The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is trying to follow the Khayyam Foundation more seriously so that we can enjoy the knowledge of Khayyam more than before and appreciate it.

In addition, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi and a number of Iranian and foreign poets attended the closing ceremony of a three-day congress on Ferdowsi and Khayyam in Mashhad on Friday. 

Khayyam is chiefly known to English-speaking readers through the translation by the English writer Edward Fitzgerald of a collection of his rubaiyat (quatrains) in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859).