Curio Cabinet / Daily Curio

War makes history, and sometimes unmakes it as well. An enduring and iconic symbol of Greece, the Parthenon has stood for two and a half millennia, though not without bearing its share of scars. The most devastating blow to the ancient wonder of the world arrived this month in 1687, during the Venetian siege of Athens, which was then under Ottoman control.
 
The Parthenon was originally a temple to Athena, and it was built on the ruins of two other temples dedicated to the same goddess. The first was the Hekatompedon Temple, which was replaced by what is now called the Older Parthenon. After the still incomplete Older Parthenon was destroyed during the war against the Persians, Athenians built the new Parthenon over the ruins in 438 B.C.E., and it stood there largely intact for centuries. After the Romans adopted Christianity, it became a Christian church until the Ottomans conquered it and turned it into a mosque. Both groups made modifications to the Parthenon, with the former adding murals of saints and the latter adding a minaret. The Parthenon was already far from its original condition by the time the Venetians laid siege to Athens in 1687, though no modification would prove to be quite as extensive as an artillery bombardment that turned much of the Parthenon’s marble structure into rubble.
 
While the Parthenon was still in Ottoman custody in the early 1800s, British ambassador Lord Elgin took it upon himself to preserve what remained of the building’s sculptural features by removing them from the building’s grounds. He later sold the meticulously-detailed frieze and metopes to the British government, setting off a still-ongoing dispute between Britain and Greece regarding the ownership of the “Elgin Marbles.” It wasn’t until Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830 that the Parthenon would be restored to better resemble its original appearance. Despite its missing pieces, the ancient wonder is still a national symbol of Greece, having endured the ages despite the odds. Athena would be pleased, don’t you think?

 
[Image description: A painting of the parthenon with some collapsed columns.] Credit & copyright: The Parthenon, Frederic Edwin Church, 1871. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Maria DeWitt Jesup, from the collection of her husband, Morris K. Jesup, 1914. Public Domain.

Maps can tell you how to get somewhere, but they’re not always great at telling you where you’re going. This especially applies to common world maps known as Mercator projection maps, which distort the real size of various places. Now, an international campaign in Africa is hoping to change the way people view the world.
 
The “Correct The Map” campaign, endorsed by the African Union, is using one of the oldest criticisms of the Mercator projection against it in the hopes of changing people’s perceptions about the continent. Though Africa is home to over 1.4 billion people, those looking at a world map tend to underestimate the continent’s size, population, and global significance due to the undersized portrayal that results from the Mercator projection. Developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in the 16th century, the Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection that allows the spherical world on a linear scale, where the meridians are equidistant and the lines of latitude grow further apart the closer it gets to the poles. The Mercator projection was ideal for nautical navigation at a time before computer assisted navigation, as it could depict rhumb lines (lines of constant course) as straight lines, making charting easier.
 
Beyond navigation, however, the Mercator projection has some significant flaws. Because the projection scales infinitely as the lines of latitude approach the poles, objects closer to the poles become more distorted. As a result, Greenland and other landmasses near the poles appear to be much larger than they actually are. Based on the Mercator projection, Greenland appears to be larger than Africa, when it’s actually a fraction of its size. This might be just a curious shortcoming of an otherwise practical map projection, but supporters of Correct The Map claim that such visual distortions minimize the cultural and economic influence of Africa. Therefore, they hope to come up with an alternative that more accurately depicts the size of objects in a map to encourage a more balanced portrayal. It’s a big, wide world, and it just might call for a big, wide map.

 
[Image description: A map of the world with green continents and blue oceans, without words or labels.] Credit & copyright: Noleander, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Get ready to clutch your pearls—there are people shopping for clothes on Sundays. The city of Paramus, New Jersey, recently filed a lawsuit against a local mall for allowing shoppers to buy garments on Sundays, and while supporters of the suit say it’s to reduce noise and traffic, detractors say it’s an example of blue laws gone wrong.
 
Blue laws refer to any law that restricts secular activities on Sundays, though what’s covered varies considerably. Some are more well known, like the restriction on the sales of alcohol, while more extreme cases restrict entertainment, various types of commerce, sports and working in general. In the recent controversy, the American Dream mall has been accused of allowing shoppers to purchase “nonessential” goods. These include not just clothes, but furniture and appliances, as opposed to essential goods like groceries or medicine. Like many blue laws in other jurisdictions, Paramus’s has been on the books since the colonial period and has remained largely unchanged. As for how such laws got on the books in the first place, they were developed in England, then promoted by Puritans early in American history.
 
Due to their religious roots, blue laws have often been challenged in court as a violation of the First Amendment, which states that the government may not favor one particular religion. However, many blue laws still remain in effect partly from lack of the political will to change them and partly because of a Supreme Court ruling in their favor. In 1961, during a case called McGowan v. Maryland, the court ruled that Maryland’s blue laws forbidding certain types of commerce weren’t in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The justification was that, even if the laws were originally created to encourage church attendance on Sundays, they also served a secular function by making Sundays a universal day of rest. Whether you’re the pious or partying type, it’s hard to argue with a day off the clock.

 
[Image description: A porcelain sculpture of a man and woman in historical clothing in a clothing shop with goods on the wall behind them.] Credit & copyright: "Venetian Fair" shop with two figures, Ludwigsburg Porcelain Manufactory (German, 1758–1824). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1950. Public Domain.

Do you think you could brave the depths of the Grand Canyon with 19th-century equipment and dwindling provisions? How about with one arm? Starting on May 24, 1869, John Wesley Powell led a group of 12 men on an expedition through the treacherous terrain of the Grand Canyon in the name of science. On August 30, the surviving crew reached the end of their grueling journey.
 
An explorer and geologist, Powell set out to document the geology of the Grand Canyon and locate sources of water for future settlers in the region. Things went smoothly at first, starting off on the Green River with four rowboats filled to the brim with supplies that could last for around ten months. Then, on June 8, the first of many disasters struck. A boat was lost with around a third of the group’s supplies. By late June, much of their remaining supplies were wet, though they were able to replenish some of what they had lost by trading with nearby settlements.
 
On July 11, the expedition nearly came to a premature end when Powell himself was thrown out of a boat. Having lost one of his arms during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, he couldn’t hold on to his boat. While he made it safely to shore, more supplies were lost. By the end of August, the crew had endured hunger, deadly rapids, and stifling heat. Faced with the prospect of a seemingly impassable rapid, three of the crew abandoned the expedition, choosing to hike out of the canyon toward a nearby town. Powell named the spot Separation Rapid, and despite their fears, the remaining crew managed to pass through and reached the mouth of the Virgin River on August 30, marking the end of their journey. The three who hiked out just days before were found dead, killed by members of the Shivwits band. Powell accomplished much of what he had set out to do, and many of the landmarks and locations within the Grand Canyon were named by him. Incredibly, he set out on a second expedition of the Grand Canyon just a few years later to document even more of the area. Let no one say that geologists aren’t dedicated people.

 
[Image description: A portion of the Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon under a blue sky.] Credit & copyright: NPS photo, Asset ID: f8f35e4c-505c-47fc-8f74-79b4b0f9ea16. Public domain: Full Granting Rights.

9/11 was a terrible day in American history, and most of the damage was immediately obvious. For tens of thousands of people who were present in the direct aftermath, however, the terrorist attacks were just the beginning of the nightmare. Around 10 years ago today, 9/11 survivor Marcy Borders passed away from cancer—a fate similar to that of many others who lived through that day.
 
Borders became famous after 9/11 as the “Dust Lady” when a photo of her covered head to toe in a thick layer of dust was widely published in the media. At the time, few people could have guessed that the dust would claim her life. Soon after her passing, her brother posted on social media that Borders had been suffering from various ailments caused by the toxic dust she was exposed to on 9/11. It’s not an isolated case, either. There were 91,000 first responders and volunteers present on 9/11 and the following months in the rubble of the WTC. Among them, cancer rates are significantly higher than in the general population, particularly when it comes to cancers of the lung, thyroid, prostate, and esophagus, as well as higher rates of leukemia.
 
The attack on the World Trade Center directly killed around 3,000 people, but at least 6,300 people have died as a result of cancer associated with the toxic dust and debris present around Ground Zero. The main environmental culprits include cement dust and asbestos, but other, more unusual causes include heavy metals, soot, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and dioxins. Most of the heavy metals came from thousands of shattered fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury. While it's normal to find some toxic substances at the site of collapsed structures, some of the more unusual ones found on 9/11 were present due to the jet fuel that burned through the buildings. For many, Ground Zero was Day One of a lifelong health battle.

 
[Image description: A portion of a memorial plaque honoring firefighters killed on September 11, 2001.] Credit & copyright: David R. Tribble (Loadmaster), Wikimedia Commons. The copyright holder of this work has released it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

Ah, an archaeological dig examining the bygone era of… 1978? Archaeologists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have invited the public and aging skaters to help in the excavation of a buried skatepark, shedding light on a bit of old European skater lore. The 1970s were a time of change, not just in terms of music and (questionable) fashion, but also in the world of sports. In Scotland, skateboarding exploded in popularity as it did in the U.S., and in 1978, the city of Glasgow invested £100,000 to build the country’s first skatepark, the Kelvin Wheelies. The skatepark featured a freestyle area, a slalom run, and a halfpipe, among other ambitious features that would have made any skater at the time drool with delight. The very year it opened, the facility hosted the first Scottish Skateboard Championships. Skaters from all around the U.K. gathered to compete and for a few years, Glasgow skaters were some of the best of the best in the U.K. Unfortunately, there was a sharp decline in the sport just a few years after the skatepark opened, and the skatepark began to see fewer visitors. Over time, it fell into disrepair, and the city made the decision to bulldoze the park due to safety concerns. It was then buried underground, with a few features remaining visible on the surface. Even without the concrete remnants jutting through the ground, Glasgow skaters from those days never forgot the park. Now, however, they may get to help resurrect the glories of yesteryear with archaeologists who are seeking their help in identifying the skatepark’s features and layout as they excavate the site. In addition to getting down and dirty themselves, the skaters hope that the site will be marked in such a way that its historic significance can be remembered properly. While skateboarding may have dipped in popularity for a time in Scotland, it’s now more popular than ever around the world and has even made it into the Olympics, so it’s understandable that skating enthusiasts hold the site in such high regard. Also, by all accounts, those bowls were absolutely sick!

 
[Image description: A green sign on a chainlink fence. White letters read: “No Skateboarding Allowed: Police Take Notice.”] Credit & copyright: Khrystinasnell, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

This wasn’t your average tea party…in fact, it wasn’t even like the other famous revolutionary tea party. With so much political upheaval going on today, it’s worth looking back on different ways that Americans have protested over the centuries, including subtle ways. The Edenton Tea Party of 1774 was quite civil, but made a powerful statement all the same.
 
The English love their tea, and so did early American colonists. It’s no wonder, then, that when it came to unfair taxation, a tax on tea was a particularly contentious issue. When the British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 and gave the British East India Tea Company a monopoly on the commodity, they probably knew that it would ruffle feathers across the pond. They might not have been prepared for just how ruffled those feathers got, though. That same year, the famous Boston Tea Party took place, during which protesters dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the Boston Harbor. At the same time, women were encouraged to eschew British imports to participate in politics in their own way.
 
One woman, named Penelope Barker, took this idea a step further. On October 25, 1774, after the First Continental Congress had passed several non-importation resolutions, Barker gathered 50 women together in what would become the first political protest held by women in America. On the surface it appeared to be like any large tea party, but there were some key differences. Instead of tea made from tea leaves, Barker served herbal tea made from local plants like mulberry leaves and lavender. Furthermore, the attendees signed the 51 Ladies’ Resolution, which expressed political will as women “who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same.” Unlike the men who disguised themselves to hide their identities in the Boston Tea Party, the women specifically rejected the idea of hiding. Thus, they exposed themselves to potential public backlash aimed at them personally. As expected, they were mocked heavily by British newspapers, but they also inspired other women in the colonies to have tea parties of their own, bringing more women into the political landscape for the first time. Nothing like a good cup of tea to kick off a revolution.

 
[Image description: An American flag with a wooden flagpole.] Credit & copyright: Crefollet, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Washington D.C. doesn’t always get to be its own city, despite its status as the nation’s capital. With the federal government’s recent controversial takeover of law enforcement duties from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), it might be worth looking back at the history of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which lies at the center of the debate.
 
Washington D.C. has been the capital of the U.S. since 1800, yet for most of its history it didn’t have much autonomy as a city. Even though it’s situated in the continental U.S., it’s not technically located in one of the 50 states. This was by design, as the Founding Fathers didn’t want any one state to have too much power over the capital. That power was instead given to the federal government, and that had some unusual repercussions for D.C. residents. For one, since the city wasn’t located in a state, the residents didn’t have a say in presidential elections with electoral votes until the 23rd amendment was ratified in 1961. Washington’s residents had been trying for most of its history to gain voting rights, and that was just one small victory in the city’s struggle for representation.
 
The next big development for Washington was the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, which allowed residents to vote for a mayor and a council of 12 members. Still, all legislation passed by the council has to be approved by Congress. Not only that, the city’s budget is set by Congress and its judges are appointed by the president. Finally, while Washington has representatives in Congress, they aren’t allowed to vote, effectively leaving the city without a voice in federal legislation. Recent events are a stark reminder that the city is ultimately at the mercy of federal authority for even the most basic municipal functions. With the White House invoking section 740 of the Home Rule Act to declare an emergency, the federal government has taken over law enforcement duties, and it has the power to do so for up to 30 days by notifying Congress. It might be the capital, but its rights are somewhat lowercase.

 
[Image description: An American flag with a wooden flagpole.] Credit & copyright: Crefollet, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.