the past and the future of the universe. He decided that it was impossible to change the past. He was able to express his thoughts far better than most:
LXXXI
The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety and wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line.
Nor all your tears wash out a line of it.
Earlier in the chapter we had a description of Omar Khayyam as a pupil by one of his contemporaries. We now have an account of the mature Omar Khayyam, the teacher, as described by one of his pupils, Khwajah Nizami of Samarkand, who relates the story:
I often used to hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden; and one day he said to me, âMy tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses over it.â I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew that his were no idle words. Years after, when I chanced to revisit Nishapur, I went to his final resting place and lo! It was just outside a garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped theirflowers upon his tomb, so that the stone was hidden under them.
Omar Khayyamâs ten books and 30 monographs have survived. These include books on mathematics, algebra, geometry, physics and metaphysics.
The Fall of the Moors
For centuries, the Spanish had been eager to expel the Moors from southern Spain. In the 11th century the fabled warrior El Cid (
c
.1040â99) fought to drive out the Moors. In this endeavor he had the backing of the pope, who wished to convert the Arabs to Christianity. El Cid was considered the perfect Christian knight: chivalrous, gentle and magnanimous in his conquests. But nothing could be further from the truth; he terrorized the Arabs with his night raids. He and his men raped innocent women, pillaged and plundered the houses and mosques and gave no quarter. In 1135 the Muslim city of Toledo fell to the Spanish. Rumors spread about new finds in Toledo, and inquisitive travelers came to see what they could plunder. It became obvious to the educated that a great center of culture and civilization existed there. It was also obvious to the unbiased observer that it was the Europeans, not the Moors, who were the barbarians in southern Spain.
In England, not long after the Norman conquest, amonk called Adelard of Bath (
c
.1080â
c
.1152) heard a rumor that rare manuscripts had been discovered in a part of Spain. Copyists and translators from all over Europe were soon on their way to Spain to try to gain access to the knowledge. Adelard was lucky. He found his way to Toledo and there, to his joy and amazement, he discovered a wonderful library where he was able to procure rare documents for his own use. Others heard of Adelardâs success and followed him across the Pyrenees and into Spain.
In 711 Muslim Arabs under the leadership of Tariq ibn Ziyad (died 720) crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangier and invaded southern Spain, ending the Visi-gothic rule there. Henceforth Andalusiaâs history was closely linked with that of Morocco and the North African coast until the end of the 15th century.
It is fascinating to ask how long it took after the fall of Rome for knowledge to grow and surpass the point it had reached in the ancient world. Most historians would say that it was not until the Renaissance that mankind could claim to have gained knowledge that the ancients had not discovered. As regards astronomy, the setback was more than a thousand years. It was not until after the time of Copernicus (1473â1543) that knowledge of astronomy advanced beyond that of the ancient world.
5
THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
In the 16th century the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus shook the world with his heretical assertion that it was the Sun, not the Earth, that lay at the center of the universe. Such was the expected weight of opinion against this theory that Copernicusâ views were only published after his death.
Ptolemyâs
Almagest
was
LXXXI
The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety and wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line.
Nor all your tears wash out a line of it.
Earlier in the chapter we had a description of Omar Khayyam as a pupil by one of his contemporaries. We now have an account of the mature Omar Khayyam, the teacher, as described by one of his pupils, Khwajah Nizami of Samarkand, who relates the story:
I often used to hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden; and one day he said to me, âMy tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses over it.â I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew that his were no idle words. Years after, when I chanced to revisit Nishapur, I went to his final resting place and lo! It was just outside a garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped theirflowers upon his tomb, so that the stone was hidden under them.
Omar Khayyamâs ten books and 30 monographs have survived. These include books on mathematics, algebra, geometry, physics and metaphysics.
The Fall of the Moors
For centuries, the Spanish had been eager to expel the Moors from southern Spain. In the 11th century the fabled warrior El Cid (
c
.1040â99) fought to drive out the Moors. In this endeavor he had the backing of the pope, who wished to convert the Arabs to Christianity. El Cid was considered the perfect Christian knight: chivalrous, gentle and magnanimous in his conquests. But nothing could be further from the truth; he terrorized the Arabs with his night raids. He and his men raped innocent women, pillaged and plundered the houses and mosques and gave no quarter. In 1135 the Muslim city of Toledo fell to the Spanish. Rumors spread about new finds in Toledo, and inquisitive travelers came to see what they could plunder. It became obvious to the educated that a great center of culture and civilization existed there. It was also obvious to the unbiased observer that it was the Europeans, not the Moors, who were the barbarians in southern Spain.
In England, not long after the Norman conquest, amonk called Adelard of Bath (
c
.1080â
c
.1152) heard a rumor that rare manuscripts had been discovered in a part of Spain. Copyists and translators from all over Europe were soon on their way to Spain to try to gain access to the knowledge. Adelard was lucky. He found his way to Toledo and there, to his joy and amazement, he discovered a wonderful library where he was able to procure rare documents for his own use. Others heard of Adelardâs success and followed him across the Pyrenees and into Spain.
In 711 Muslim Arabs under the leadership of Tariq ibn Ziyad (died 720) crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangier and invaded southern Spain, ending the Visi-gothic rule there. Henceforth Andalusiaâs history was closely linked with that of Morocco and the North African coast until the end of the 15th century.
It is fascinating to ask how long it took after the fall of Rome for knowledge to grow and surpass the point it had reached in the ancient world. Most historians would say that it was not until the Renaissance that mankind could claim to have gained knowledge that the ancients had not discovered. As regards astronomy, the setback was more than a thousand years. It was not until after the time of Copernicus (1473â1543) that knowledge of astronomy advanced beyond that of the ancient world.
5
THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION
In the 16th century the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus shook the world with his heretical assertion that it was the Sun, not the Earth, that lay at the center of the universe. Such was the expected weight of opinion against this theory that Copernicusâ views were only published after his death.
Ptolemyâs
Almagest
was
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