01-29-2018, 03:42 AM
Hi just mercedes,
I looked up the stories of Oroetus and Polycrates briefly on the web. Given the whole historical context, the haiku in between makes much more sense, although it reads quite well even in context of the preceding and following paragraphs. The latter paragraph, possibly (I think) looking at the archaeological remains on Samos at a later period, is a nice juxtaposition against the alive history of the first, and reinforces the undertones of fate and change weaved earlier, along with a sense of oblivion. There is also a sense of residual fear of the misfortune visited upon Polycrates in the last sentences, possibly borne through oral accounts across generations. I do not know if there's anything outside Herodotus's writings in the opening paragraph, so I can't comment on its contents. However, the curated visual snapshots presented are very appropriate to the way this is constructed. I'll only say that there's enough nuances here that you could expand this considerably, inserting more Haikus.
I looked up the stories of Oroetus and Polycrates briefly on the web. Given the whole historical context, the haiku in between makes much more sense, although it reads quite well even in context of the preceding and following paragraphs. The latter paragraph, possibly (I think) looking at the archaeological remains on Samos at a later period, is a nice juxtaposition against the alive history of the first, and reinforces the undertones of fate and change weaved earlier, along with a sense of oblivion. There is also a sense of residual fear of the misfortune visited upon Polycrates in the last sentences, possibly borne through oral accounts across generations. I do not know if there's anything outside Herodotus's writings in the opening paragraph, so I can't comment on its contents. However, the curated visual snapshots presented are very appropriate to the way this is constructed. I'll only say that there's enough nuances here that you could expand this considerably, inserting more Haikus.
(01-22-2018, 11:15 AM)just mercedes Wrote: Oroestes reviled Polycartes the Consul without ever meeting him, or reflecting. He schemed, dangled money and men to back the troops. Polycrates sent his secretary Maendrius from Samos to check out his credentials. Oroetes displayed eight large timber chests filled with stones, topped by a layer of gold. Polycrate’s daughter saw her father in a vision, hanging up, anointed by the sun. ‘Don’t go’ she warned. Oroestes slew him ‘in a mode not fit to utter’ and hung his body outside the temple on a crucifix.
brimming cups spill
empty cups fill -
reach for balance
Relics of a vanished race: ruins of embankments, terraces, roads pathed with stone, crumbling platforms, tombs, high-gabled lodges, pillars, stone fish-weirs, still fill the island. Islanders now won’t touch the stones, or grow their food nearby.