Carpe Diem #790 The Great Pyramid of Giza

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First this: You cannot register anymore for our first Renga Party. I will start with preparing the list of participants in this Renga Party I hope to have it ready tomorrow.

It's my pleasure to welcome you at a new episode of our daily haiku meme Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This month we are traveling over The Nile in our papyrus boat with full sails. We are following The Nile to its source, hidden in secrets.
Today we are visiting The Great Pyramid of Giza, better known as the Pyramid of Khufu or Cheops. Its one of the seven ancient world wonders and in a way this episode is a reprise. Back in the history of CDHK we visited the seven ancient world wonders and earlier this we revisited another one of the seven ancient world wonders, The Lighthouse of Alexandria were our journey started.
There are a lot of theories about the Great Pyramid you will all know at least one of them I think. There were scientist who said that the Pyramids are build by aliens and not by humans. There are others who said it was build by the Israeli people while they lived in Egypt during the time of Moses. Others have looked at the Pyramids with a mathematical eye and that made me happy, because from the mathematical way of looking to the Pyramids it occurs that the Pyramids are following the Fibonacci sequence.

The Great Pyramid isn't just one pyramid, but three pyramids who all are perfectly aligned with the stars of the Belt of Orion. Those ancient architects were very clever and more than wise, because of this fact. Isn't it awesome that a long way back in history it was possible to create such big pieces of art as the Great Pyramid?

Credits: Great Pyramid at Giza

In that earlier prompt "Pyramid of Giza" I remember that I wrote the following haiku:

highway to the gods
pharaohs trip to eternity -
Leo shines above

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice one I think, but for this new episode, this "reprise" of the Great Pyramid of Giza I love to challenge you to write a so called "Fibo-ku". In that special haiku form, which I created last year (2014), you have to follow the Fibonacci sequence in your haiku, as follows:

1st line 1 syllable; 2nd line 1 syllable; 3rd line  2 syllables; 4th line 3 syllables and so on as is the Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 and so on.

Here is an example of such a "Fibo-ku":

sun
moon
star light
the breeze
this summer morning
birds singing their beautiful songs -
young sparrows playing hide and seek in the dry sand of the garden

© Chèvrefeuille

But ... that's just the challenge. If you like to write a haiku or tanka in response on this episode than that's also ok ... it's up to you. Our episodes (and the given prompts) are for inspiring you.

secrets
hidden inside
now outside

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 8th at noon (CET). I will publish our next episode, our 2nd CD Special featuring Lolly, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #585, The Lighthouse of Alexandria (October 2013) reprise

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Maybe you can recall our journey along the seven ancient world wonders which we performed in our first anniversary month October 2013. It was an idea by Hamish Gunn and in our first anniversary month we visited all the world wonders. I remember that it wasn't easy to compose haiku inspired on those world wonders, but there were very beautiful haiku to read.

We are on memory lane along the months of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai as a celebration of our second anniversary and I love to read those "old" episodes and I am glad to see that you all like it too.

Here is one of the haiku which I composed in response on "The Lighthouse of Alexandria":

stormy nights
entering the harbor save
led by the Lighthouse

© Chèvrefeuille

And this was our anniversary logo back in October 2013:

This first anniversary month we had wonderful haiku written by Garry Gay, our featured haiku poet that month, and I am happy to announce that Garry Gay will be our next Ghost Writer (October 22nd). Garry Gay was born in Glendale, California in 1951. He received a BPA degree from Brooks Institute of Photography in 1974 and has been a professional photographer since his graduation. He is skilled in all formats and has been creating digital images since 1993. His award winning Polaroid Transfers have hung in numerous juried art shows. He is a proud member of Advertising Photographers of America, Film Arts Foundation, Friends of Photography, Artrails, and the Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County. 

Greatly influenced by Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North, he has steadily been writing haiku from 1975 to the present. He is one of the co-founders of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, serving as their first president from 1989-1990. In 1991 he was elected president of the Haiku Society of America.

Garry Gay

Garry is also the inventor of the Rengay, a modern version of the Renga. I am glad that he will be our one time Ghost Writer and I am honored that he will do that for us.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 21st at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, river stones (November 2013), later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem #333, The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we end our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders at Ancient Alexandria where one stood a wonderful lighthouse.

The lighthouse was localized, between 1994 and 1996, in the port of Alexandria by the French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur. This is one of the most known ancient monuments and also most often represented because it was one of the first lighthouses. Indeed, we even found souvenir objects with reproductions of the image of the lighthouse in Afghanistan.
The Lighthouse is located in Egypt on the island of Pharaohs in front of the city of Alexandria. During the centuries, this island was connected with the continent by the alluviums of the Nile, on which we built a road and a bridge. The lighthouse, built on the island, was begun under Ptolemy II Philadelphus and ended around 280 BC by Sostratus of Cnidus.

Lighthouse of Alexandria, our last stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Woders

The lighthouse counted three floors: the first one was squared, the second was octagonal and the third cylindrical. The white marble whole measured approximately 135 m (440 feet) height from where we could see ships located 100 miles far away. Angles were decorated with bronze tritons which was used either to warn of the approach of the enemy by terrifying sounds, but also to carry mirrors which, during the night, reflected the light of a fire. In the daytime, the smoke indicated to the boats the entrance of the port.
Its important height and its exemplary robustness made the lighthouse of Alexandria unique. Indeed it was exposed to a strong wind coming from the sea, that is why it should be inevitably resistant enough. This edifice is the symbol of the technical exploit shown by the Egyptians. Furthermore it was one of the first lighthouses.

stormy nights
entering the harbor save
led by the Lighthouse

led by the Lighthouse
finally fishermen can enter save -
stormy nights

Thsi was our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders ... back to our regular prompts. Our next prompt will be our last Special of this anniversary month, ... This prompt will stay on 'til October 28th 11.59 AM (CET). Now open for your submissions. By the way I have chosen to do this last episode of the World Wonders instead of the last Garry Gay Special, which I now will do next day.

Carpe Diem #332, Colossus of Rhodes

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are almost at the end of this journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders and I have seen and read wonderfully composed haiku inspired on these World Wonders and that's the goal of this journey. Just to share a bit history for your inspiration. If not possible to write haiku about the World Wonders then I hope that the post inspire you to write haiku ... no obligations, feel free and have fun. Haiku is fun and I love that poetry form a lot. I started Carpe Diem Haiku Kai because of my love for haiku and to share haiku with the world and maybe ... inspire others to start writing haiku.

Today we are on Rhodes where once stood a great Colossus as a victorious statue at the waterfront of Rhodes.This bronze statue representing Helios, Greek sun god, had been built by the sculptor Charas of Lindos to commemorate the end of the seat of the city, which took place into 305 BC, and the victory of Rhodiens against the Macedonian chief Démétrios Poliorcète.

The colossus of Rhodes was located in the wearing of Rhodes in Greece, probably at the end of the current Saint-Nicolas Day mole, where some marble blocks have been found and could have been used to build the base of the statue. The colossus of Rhodes was set up between 303 and 291 BC, so it took twelve years of hard work to totally finish it.

An impression of the Colossus of Rhodes, this impression gives the Colossus as it almost certain was, because in those times they couldn't built such a statue with legs split as you can see on the most pictures of the Colossus.

Made of bronze and based on marble block, the statue was 32 meters (105 feet) height from the top of the head to the feet, that is to say 14 meters (46 feet) less than the statue of liberty in New York. The height enabled the statue to be visible by the ships approaching to the port. In his raised arm, the sun god held a torch while his other arm was pressed on a lance. Contrary to the illustrations we usually find, ships were not passing under the colossuses’ legs to enter in the wearing of Rhodes. It was technically impossible that the statue had its legs split.
The statue had been partially destroyed in 225 BC after a earthquake. Then, in 653 AC, all the material (more than 13 tons of bronze and nearly 7 tons of iron, according to Philon) is taken by an Arab expedition to be sold to a Jewish merchant of Ephesea. The statue has been raised at the entry of the port for only 65 years.

Another possible impression of the Colossus of Rhodes

We can say that the colossus of Rhodes is part of the seven wonders because of its exemplary vastness. Moreover, it should well be realized that this Greek monument is the result of a very huge technical prowess which is characterized, amongst other things, by the use of terra cotta moulds necessary to the casting of the colossus. According to the legend, Charas of Lindos commited a suicide when he discovered an error in his calculations. An error that one of his assistants had to correct.

Rhodes is one of the bigger islands of Greece and it has a wonderful history. The old city of Rhodes is since 1988 on the UNESCO world heritage-list. 

Rhodes

I have never been there, but it looks like a wonderful, rich of history, Greek Island to visit, maybe once ...

ancient greek statue
nowadays just a figment -
outstretched beaches

outstretched beaches
packed with tourist from all over the globe -
sound of breakers

sound of breakers
still there - telling stories
of years past

Well ... this was the post about the Colossus of Rhodes and now we have to visit the last of the Seven Ancient World Wonders, the Lighthouse of Alexandria. With that Lighthouse we will end our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders ... and then back to the normal routine of our daily prompts.

Hope you did like this post and that it will inspire you to write haiku, senryu, tanka or kyoka. No obligations, feel free and have fun. This episode will stay on 'till October 27th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our last stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Colossus of Rhodes is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #331, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders and today we arrive at the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.Another not so easy prompt I think, but we have said A so we have to say B too.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is a monumental grave located in the southwest of Turkey in the city of Halicarnassus (nowadays Bodrum) where lived the king of Carie named Mausole. He was also satrap (governor) of the king of Persia, to whom the Carie belonged.

It is very likely that Artemis, sister and woman of the satrap of Carie began the construction of this edifice in 353 BC, three years after the death of king, to honour him. The mausoleum was ended one year after the death of this woman.

Ruins of the Mausoleum

With a total height of around 43 m (141 feet), it was sustained with thirty six columns and surmounted by a pyramid decorated of one quadriga with marble. The funeral chamber doubtless contained the graves of Mausole and Artemis. We could also observe a valuable frieze represented a fight of the Greeks against the Amazon and the Centaurs.
This monument was partly destroyed, by an earthquake, at around fourteenth century. A short time later, the knights of Malta decided to build a fortress: they used the stones of the mausoleum and in 1522, no one remained. Nowadays, we can again observe this fortress in Bodrum.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

This mausoleum was classified as a wonder because it distances itself by its beauty and its great value. Indeed, the ornaments of the sanctuary were realized by the most famous artists of its era: Satyrus and Pythius for the architecture; Scopas, Timotheos, Bryaxis and Leochares for the sculpture. The decorations and the sculptures were really magnificent. Several pieces were recover and can be seen in the British Museum of London.

a king's grave
built with marble to honor him -
shimmers in the sun

shimmers in the sun
a grave worthy to a king
now a ruin

This prompt will stay on 'til October 26th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders, Colossus of Rhodos, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #330, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders, but I think those world wonders are very difficult to write haiku about. Maybe that's a misunderstanding, but I can see that in your up-linked posts. The World-wonder prompts have less reactions as the other prompts we had.
I know that it isn't easy to write haiku on these World-Wonder prompts, so don't be afraid to try to write haiku about them. Of course there are no obligations that you have to post, but I try to understand what the reason is that these prompts aren't that easy.

Notwithstanding ... today we are visiting the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, it was built in honor of godess Artemis.

Ruins of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Dutch wordpress log)

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus served as well as a market place and a cult place for the goddess Artemis which was the divinity of the fertility, the Earth, the moon and the animals. She was very worshipped.

It was located in Turkey, in the ancient city of Ephesus which is nowadays called Selcuk, and which is located 50 km in the South of Izmir. This temple was set up from the middle of the eighth century to the middle of the third century BC It has the peculiarity to have been demolished seven times in ten centuries.

The first temple was primitive (8 columns on 4), however king Croesus ordered to destroy it in order to raise a new much larger one. With a base of 155 m (508 feet) on 60 (197 feet), the new sanctuary possessed 127 columns with sculptured reliefs. But it was destroyed again to leave place to the new temple drawn by the Greek architect called Chersiphron, even more gigantic than the precedent: its Ionic columns, adorned with gold, raised at more than 18 m height and contained scenes with mythological symbols sculptured by the lost famous sculptors and the Greek architects such as Scopas, Praxiteles, Phidias and Polyclitus. This last sanctuary sheltered the statues of Artemis and Zeus where these gods were worshipped by the Greek population. Nowadays, we can find some reproductions of the statue of this goddess in the museums of Naples, the Vatican and the Louvre.

Finally, during the night of 21st of July in 356 BC, a person called Herostratus set on fire the temple so that its name is immortalized. It is done. Stones were doubtless reused to build churches.

Artemis (or Diana) statue

Antipater of Sidon (a 2nd century BC Greek poet), who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:

“I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand".

nature's beauty
Artemis protects it with passion -
a hunted deer

Well ... I hope you did like this episode and I hope that it inspires you to write haiku. This prompt will stay on 'til October 25th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! The Temple of Artemis is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #329, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As we are on our way to the end of this anniversary month of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we are visiting the Seven Ancient World Wonders and today we arrive at Olympia were the Statue of Zeus once stood.
This colossal statue represented the Greek god of heaven: Zeus. It was ordered in 450 BC. to the Athenian sculptor Phidias by the inhabitants of Olympia who wished to decorate the temple of the old town.

This statue was located on the west coast of Greece at Olympia. In the antiquity, this city was a place of cult which contained numerous treasures of the Greek art: temples, monuments, altars, theaters, statues and marble or bronze votive offerings. It was realized with golden and ivory, measured 12 m (39 feet) height and was placed on a base of 2 m (7 feet). The base of the statue was 6 m (21 feet) wide and 1 m height. The statue's perimeter was 13 m (43 feet). This work touched almost the ceiling of the temple. On the other hand, the throne was decorated with precious stones, ivory, ebony and gold.

Zeus, in sat position, holds, in its right hand, the goddess of Victory, Nike, and, in the left hand, a scepter surmounted by an eagle. The throne was decorated with relief sculptured mythological scenes, notably evoking the murder of the sons of Niobe, the queen of Thebes.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia (an interpretation)

This statue was made,  in honour of the god whom the ancient Olympic Games were created. They took place every four years and were the most famous ancient four games during which the Greeks were involved. The three others were the Isthmian games (at Corinth), the Pythian games (at Delphi) and the Nemean games (at Nemea). Then, we can say that with its greatness and its priceless value, the statue of Zeus distanced itself from the other Greek works. We can add that this is the biggest statue that the Greeks have ever realized.

Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the fire which ravaged the temple in 462. Nowadays, only stony ruins which were used for the construction of the temple remain.

A wonderful kind of ancient Greek art-work, it's a shame that there's nothing less then a few ruines and no physical evidence for this World Wonder.

in honour
of a great haiku poet
Basho's statue

Basho (1644-1694) - the greatest haiku poet ever

As the Statue of Zeus was made to honour the creator of the Olympic Games,  Basho was honoured with the Sumo-games which are wearing his name "Basho-Games".

honoring haiku -

fighting in praise of Basho
sumo warriors

sumo warriors
after their fight retrieving balance
writing haiku

writing haiku
sometimes a struggle sometimes not
just like sumo

A nice series of haiku I think, in praise of Basho, my haiku master, inspired by the Statue of Zeus ... Hope you like the read. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

This prompt will stay on 'til October 24th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will (try) to post our next episode around 7.00 PM (CET) later on today. That new episode will be our next stop in our journey along the Ancient World Wonders, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
!! Statue of Zeus is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #328, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day in haiku paradise Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, and as we started two days ago with exploring the Seven Ancient World Wonders with the Pyramid of Giza, we now will visit The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The hanging gardens of Babylon are a quite mysterious wonder. Indeed, no Babylonian text describing them have been found. We don't even know the destruction date of this wonder. Maybe this is just a product of Greeks imagination ?

The gardens were located on east the bank of the river Euphrates, in the city of Babylon (50 km from Bagdad) and may have been built in 600 BC. No Greek historian have seen them, it just consists in stories told by soldats, which is a quite doubtful source of informations.

According to the legend king Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) would have made build the famous hanging gardens of Babylon for his wife Sémiramis to remind her the vegetation of the moutains from her natal country : Media (actual Iran).

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - painting by the 16th century Dutch artist Martin Heemskerck

These gardens were composed of several floors, each was a terrace of 120 m² supported by vaults and pillars of brick. An immense staircase, made of marble, connected the terraces, where water was brought from the river Euphrates by a system of hydraulic screws. It was a real botanical garden where was cultivated plants and trees of Mesopotamia and of Media. On the first eight meters height terrace were planted big trees : plane trees, palm trees - date palms, pines and cedars. On the second thirteen meters height terrace were located the cypresses and quantity of fruit trees. And even higher, on the two last terraces, less vast than the others, we could find the anemones and the tulips, the lilies and the irises… without forgetting the roses, so appreciated from the beautiful Sémiramis.

There is evidence that these Hanging Gardens were situated in Nineveh and not in actual Babylon. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are likely a legend, but a nice one.

ancient stories told -
soldiers' fantasy came true
desert garden

desert garden
eyecatcher of Babylon -
hidden wisdom

hidden wisdom
ancient knowledge for gardening
hanging baskets

Well ... have fun with this new episode of Carpe Diem's daily haiku meme ... be inspired and share your haiku with our haiku-family here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
This prompt will stay on 'til October 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #327, Pyramid of Giza (provided by Managua Gunn)

Dear Haijin,visitors and travelers,

I am late with this new episode ... sorry. I am in the nightshift until next Tuesday, so I haven't enough time to write big episodes or even post on time.
Today we start with our worldtour along the Ancient World Wonders and we start off in Egypt at the Pyramid of Giza. Managua Gunn provided this prompt. Because of lack of time I have decided to start this tour with only a picture of the Pyramid of Giza and challenge you all to write haiku only with the picture (as we do in our "Imagination" feature).

Pyramid of Giza

Well ... I think this will be fun ... come on go with us on trip along the Ancient World Wonders. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with our Haiku Kai.

highway to the gods
pharaohs trip to eternity -
Leo shines above

This prompt will stay on 'til October 21th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, another nice haiku by Garry Gay, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! Pyramid of Giza is now open for your submissions !!