Is it true that the Rubai Omara Khayama wrote not Omar Hayyam?

The authorship of many poems attributed to the famous Persian poet, you oftenHe calls doubts. We checked how just such suspicions are.

Academic publication "Rubayat" Omara Khayyama, which was prepared by domestic Iranists Aliyev and Osmanov and was published in 1959, contains originals and translations of 293 rubies. IN publication French orientalist Nicolas (1867) - 464 quatrains. IN one of the publications The translation of Edward Fitzgerald, the Victorian poet, who brought Khayama world glory, contains 74 roofs (this number varies from the publication to the publication). "Wikipedia" Curses Data on Khayyam belonging from 300 to 500 ruby. In various publications of poetic translations into Russian, you can find up to a thousand quatrain (for example, in publication From the 1986 Library of the 1986 - 817, as well as 101 from the translations of Fitzgerald) with a reservation that the transfers of the same rubies made by different translators may include transfers in the same publications. According to some scientists, Khayama is attributed to the compilation of about 5,000 quatrains.

Omar Hayam (1048–1131) was an outstanding encyclopedist, the author of works on algebra and astronomy. In 1074, he was invited to Isfahan, the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate, where he served at the court of the ruler of Malik Shah. Khayyam led the work of a group of scientists engaged in the clarification of the calendar, which was called in honor of his ruling cartridge. Khayyam is also attributed to the authorship of Rubayat - the collection of Rubai (quatrains), the shortest form of classical Persian poetry. Rubans (mainly philosophical content) are present in sofas (collections of poetic works) of a large part of the Persian poets - apparently, this small poetic form was better than others to compose short impromptu, small poems “on the occasion”.

The question of the authenticity of the poetic heritage of Omar Khayyam, who had reached us, was first raised by the Russian Iranist Valentin Zhukovsky. In his article 1897 he demonstrated that some quatrains from the publication Nicolas can be found in the sofas of other Persian poets. Zhukovsky revealed 82 such roofs and called them “wandering”, and also proposed to consider only the quatrains that attribute to Khayaam in ancient historical works as true. There were six such poems. Edward Denison Ross is not only Transferred Zhukovsky’s article in English, but during an independent study, increased the number of “wandering” Rubai.

Skepticism of Zhukovsky initially Shared Danish orientalist Arthur Kristensen, attributing to Khayaim only 12 Rubai, but then he Changed his opinion and stopped at the number 121. In 1898 was published The text "Rubayat" on the basis of a manuscript from the Bodlian library of the University of Oxford, dated to 1460. This manuscript contained 158 rubies, however, its publisher Edward Hiron Allen rather criticized Fitzgerald’s approach to working with the originals than raised the question of the authenticity of certain quatrains. The peak of the study of "wandering" Rubai became Job Indian scientist Swami Govinda Tirtha, published in 1941. He found that out of 2213, the quatrains attributed to Khayama - 753. With a certain criticism of this method, Iranian scientist Ali Dashti made this method, who I thoughtthat in itself the presence of Rubai attributed to Khayam in the sofa of another poet does not at all speak of their non -utility.

A new approach to determining the authenticity of the poetic heritage of Khayyam Offered In his Persian publication "Rubayat" German diplomat and orientalist Friedrich Rosen. He believed that it was necessary to highlight the key quatrains and, already starting from them, to verify all other roofs. Rosen identified 23 key quatrains, considering that they should become a starting point for assessing the entire poetic heritage of Khayyam. Using this method, Iranians made their calculations Sadeg hedes And Muhammad Ali Furuga. Furuga, in particular, called the 66 quatrains key, however, such a methodology was criticized - Among the “key” Rubai defined, both authentic and attributed to Khayama could well be found.

Attempts were made to verify the quatrain Khayyam according to the method of rhyme. Contrary to common opinion, there are two Rhymias of the Rubai. The first, which is considered "proprietary", is a scheme in which the first, second and fourth lines rhymes (AABA). According to the second scheme, all lines rhyme (aaaaa). Iranian scientist Seyed Ali Mirafzali Analyzed 2399 Rubai of contemporaries of Khayyam and found that 87% of them rhyme according to the second scheme (aaaaa), and the rest are the first (AABA). To similar conclusions Came And the British Iranian Lawrence Paul Elwell-Satton: his study of the quatrains of the XI century showed the ratio of 70 by 30 in favor of the second scheme. The use of such a method to Khayyam’s legacy can only narrow the search area, but will not bring tangible results. So, in one of the authoritative collections of Rubai called “Tarab Khan” (Persian “House of Joy”), containing 559 quatrains, only 112 rhymes according to the scheme aaaaa.

There are radical theories, the authors of which are trying to explain the problems associated with the attribution of Khayyam's poetry. Such, for example, is the theory of “two Khayyam”, according to which we should distinguish between mathematics and astronomer Omar Khayyam from the city of Nishapur and the poet from the same region who used the poetic pseudonym Khayyam. Immediately, we note that the presence of poetic pseudonyms or literary names is a common phenomenon for the classical Persian and neighboring literary traditions. We know Shams-Ad-Din Muhammad Shirazi according to his pseudonym Hafiz, and Muslim-ad-Din Abdallah Shirazi-according to the pseudonym Saadi. So, the Iranian scientist Muhammad Mukhit Tabatabai, the author of the theory of "two Khayyam", referring to the information of one of the medieval biographical dictionaries, assertedthat the verses of Omar Khayyam actually belong to the poet Ali Khayama. Data about this Khayama is only in the very biographical dictionary that the author of the theory refers: Ali Khayyam was a famous poet at one time, lived in the same region as Omar Hayyam, and left behind an impressive sofa of poems. Since there are no other evidence of this theory, and it is enough to prove its scientific value to prove its scientific value.

The task of researchers is also complicated by the fact that we have no relatively early manuscripts “Rubayat”. Separate Rubans of Khayyam are quoted in works compiled a few decades after his death. In the anthologies of the second half of the XIII century, collections of its quatrains are mentioned. The earliest scientists at the disposal of manuscripts dating from the 15th century-these are the manuscript mentioned above from the Bodlian library and the Tarab Khan. Already on the example of these two meetings, we see the growth of the quatrains attributed to Khayam: if there are about 150 in the Bodlian manuscript, then in the “Tarab-Khan”-559. From the end of the 15th century, not only the number of manuscripts, but also their volume has increased. On this front of research, a breakthrough can occur only if in numerous storage facilities and funds it is possible to find a more ancient (and ideally intravital) manuscript “Rubayat”.

In the meantime, this riddle has no unequivocal solution. The only thing scientists can do is combine all the existing methods of verification of Rubai, that is, to determine their authenticity from the point of view of the most common rhyme scheme in that era, and by eliminating the “wandering” ruby. There are also verification hypotheses based on working with the thematic repertoire of the quatrain, although such research is quite often criticized as the “taste” of their authors. Therefore, so far we have to recognize the correctness of Elvella-Satton with bitterness, who said that Persian literature, one of the richest in the world, became famous thanks to the one who, perhaps, did not write a single line.

Half truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. N. Chalisova. As Omar Hayim said? (about the history of Russian translations)
2. Omar Hayiam. Rubaiite. Preparation of the text, translation and preface by R. M. Aliyev and M.-N. Osmanova. M., 1959
3. R. Malkovich. Omar Hayyam: Rubayat. Comparison of translations. St. Petersburg, 2012