OMAR KHAYYAM. 806 OMBOS. nintics. It was as an algebraist that Omar made his most noteworthy contribution to science. In this respect, he stands out as the most notable mathematician of his time. He was the first to attempt a systematic classification of types of equations of the first three degrees, and to con- sider cubics from the standpoint of the general equation, rather than as means for solving spe- cific geometric problems. While he could solve certain cubics. he was not able to find a general solution. Biquadratics he asserted to be in- soluble by geometry, the method always thought necessary for the cubic until after his time. He also knew the rule for expanding a binomial for positive integral powers, a rule afterwards perfected by Newton as the binomial theorem (q.v.). In still other scientific lines Omar Khayyam's intellectual activity found expression ; he com- posed three different books on subjects of nat- ural science, and three likewise on metaphysics. But it is on his verses as the author of the liulu'ii/at, or quatrains, that his name will live. The first Occidental mention of the Ruba'ii/ut, or renowned collection of quatrains, is found in Hvde, Hixtoria Ifcliqionis Vctcnnn Persanim, pp. 408-500 (Oxford," 1700), but neither this al- lusion nor notices by Sir Gore Ouseley and others attracted any special attention. It remained for Edward FitzGerald (q.v.) to introduce Omar to the West through a version of a hundred of the quatrains. The version is indeed a paraphrase, yet often very close, and it has caught almost exactly the spirit of the original. FitzGerald boldly ventured to rearrange the hundred stanzas that he chose so as to give in a sort of sequence the development of the poet's changing moods. There is no stand- ard manuscript to serve as a norm, and in the manuscript the quatrains are simply arranged in the alphabetic order of the final letter of the rhyme without reference to content. It is not even actually known how many of the quatrains are really Omar's. Over five hundred of these four-line stanzas are found, in ditVercnt works and manuscripts, ascribed to him. Their tone is varied. In some the note is that of revolt against the Divine blaster, whose power the slave must nevertheless acknowledge. A number of the quatrains revile the Sufis, yet after all Omar had been trained under Sufi influence, and so may not be whiilly free from the mystic tinge. A strain of pantheism runs through many quat- rains; while the song of the nightingale, its de- votion to the pallid rose whose eheek the spring- time causes to blush; the pleasures of love; and the joy of the fleeting hour darkened by the knowl- edge of inevitable death, give a tenderness to otliers that is truly poetic. The tone of much of Omar's verse was justly regarded as heretical by orthodox Mohammedan Persia; it is often debatable in the West whether the wine and the wine cup be symbolic or Anacreontic. Perhaps the latter is nearer the truth, although some al- lowance will be jnade by those who are acquainted with the mystic poetry of Hafiz, Jami, Xizami, or .Talal ad-Din Rumi. The date of Omar Khayyam's death is not cer- tain. The year is given as A.n. 1111 (a.ii. .50.5) or as A.D. 1123 (a.ii. 517^ ; the latter, however, is much more probable. The stor>' goes that he had prophesied that his grave would he at a place where a fruit tree should shower blossoms upon it ; and this has been fulfilled, for his tomb at Nishapur is in the midst of a garden of roses, sheltered by fruit trees and bays. Bibliography. The Algebra of Omar Khay- yam was edited and tianslated by Woepke, L'algihre d'Omar AJkhaijyame (Paris, 1S51). .
almost complete bibliography of manuscripts,
editions, translations, and imitations of the Quatrains is given by Dole, Ituhaitjat of Omar Khatjyam (Boston, 1890). FitzGerald's render- ing into English verse has been constantly re- produced since the first edition at London in 1859. ilore important from a scholarly point of view are the edition of five hundred quatrains with a metrical text translation, by Whinfield (2d ed., London, 1803), and the elaborate trans- lation, keeping the metrical tricks of the original, by Payne, The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, Sow First Complclrly Done into English 'ers0 from the Persian, icitli a Biogrojihieat and Criti- cal Introduction ( ib., 1898); and Heron- Allen, The Ruhaiyat of Omar Kliayyam : A Facsimile of the Manuserij)t in the Bodleian Library, Trans- lated and Edited (Boston, 1898). The convenient reissue of FitzGerald with a commentary by Batson, and a biographical introduction by Ross, The Ruhaiyat of Omar Khaifyuni (New York, 1900), is also of considerable interest. The mysticism of Omar's poetry is ably treated by Bjerregaard, f'Ufl Interpretations of the Quatrains of Omar Kliayyam and FitzGerald (ib., 1902). OMAR PASHA, o'mur pa-sha'. A Turkish general. See Omek Pa.siia. OMBAY, 6m-bi'. One of the smaller of the Sunda Islands, situated near the eastern end of the group. 40 miles north of Timor and 260 miles southeast of Celebes (Map: Australasia, E 3). Area, 892 square miles. It is mountain- ous and volcanic, and inhabited almost exclusive- ly by savage tribes of a mixed Malay and Pap- uan race. At Allor, on the northwest co^ist, is a Dutch settlement with some trade in wax, pepper, and edible birds' nests. OM'BOS (Gk. 'OfjL^oi. Omhoi). An ancient Egyptian town on the eastern bank of the Nile in latitude 24° 28' N., about ten miles south of the .lebel Silsileh. The site, which has long been miinhabite<l. bears the modern Arabic name of Kum Ombo, 'the hill of Ombo.' The top of the hill forms a broad plateau upon which are the ruins of the town ami of its fine temple buildings. In spite of its excellent strategic position Tipon an elevation commanding both the river and the route to Nubia, Ombos seems to have been a town of no special importance in the earlier period of Egyptian history. Under the Ptolemies, how- ever, it advanced rapidly, was made the capital of the newly formed nome of Ombitcs. and con- tinued to flourish down to a late period under the Roman Empire. The temple buildings, which date from the Ptolemaic period, formerly stood within an inelosure surrounded by a brick wall. Traces of this wall and a portion of the pylon forming the entrance to the inelosure yet remain. The court of the great temple, dedicated to the crocodile god Sobk and to Ilaroeris. was former- ly colonnaded on three sides, and. at its upper end, several doors give entrance to a hypostyle hall opening by two doors into a smaller hall, from which three successive antechambers lead to the two sanctuaries. The latter are placed side by side, that o{ Sobk on the right and that
