The rise and fall of reputations is fascinating. In Iran Khayyam was known as a scientist, particularly as someone who reinvented the solar calendar. His poetry is, as was made plain on the programme, something not mentioned in his own era (or was it mentioned once?) Anyway, he was not known as a poet. Now, as a result of Edward FitzGerald’s translation, he is acclaimed as a fine poet in Iran, although the very latest scholarship there suggests that there is still some academic uncertainty about his relationship with these quatrains.

Lês fierder by de BBC