One of the best-known, most often-quoted English classics. Edward FitzGerald's free translation of skeptical, hedonistic verse attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048-1122), Persian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. Explanation of Persian names and unfamiliar terms. Omar Khayyam (1048 1122) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and a philosopher who was not known as a poet in his lifetime. Later, a body of quatrains became attached to his name, although not all were his works. These verses lay in obscurity until 1859, when Edward FitzGerald (1809 1883), an English country gentleman, published a free adaptation of this Persian poetry. After its discovery by D. G. Rossetti and others, the verse became extremely popular. Essentially a hedonist and a skeptic, Omar Khayyam, through FitzGerald, spoke with both an earthy and spiritual freedom that stirred a universal response. As a result, the Rubaiyat became one of the best-known and most often quoted English classics. The fifth edition, published posthumously in 1889, was based on FitzGerald's handwritten changes in a copy of the fourth edition, and is traditionally printed with the first edition.