An ancient artifact in-
scribed with an 11th-
Century Persian poet’s quatrain was listed by the New York-based Archeology Magazine as one of the most exciting discoveries of 2009.
The turquoise and black floral potsherd, shown above, which dates back to the 12th-13th Century and bears a Persian inscription belonging to the 11th-Century Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyam, was unearthed during excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The centuries old pottery piece was discovered by an archeology team from the Israel Antiquities Authority and is the first of its kind to have been found in Jerusalem.
According to Rivka Cohen-Amin of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the poem belongs to The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a collection of quatrains (four-line poems). Julia Rabanovich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem translated the inscription as, “Was once the embrace of a lover that entreat.”