Many quatrains included in the so-called Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam are unquestionably his. A very large proportion, however - probably not less than nine-tenths - of a whole collection is the work of other hands. Both in style and matter the spurious quatrains are indistinguishable from the genuine. It is impossible, except in one or two isolated instances, to decide from the evidence before us whether Omar wrote any particular rubaiyat amoung the thousands which pass under his name.

Reynold Alleyne Nicholson

Omar Khayyam (or Khayyama) was born, probably at Nishapur, in the north-east of Persia, between 1025 and 1050 A.D. His surname, Khayyam (Tent-maker), does not prove that he or his father was actually engaged in that trade, but corresponds to many English names of industrial derivation, e.g. Tanner, Mercer, Goldsmith.

Reynold Alleyne Nicholson