The stadion (plural stadia, ; latinized as

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

), also anglicized as stade, was an ancient Greek unit of

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...

, consisting of 600 Ancient Greek feet ('' podes''). Its exact length is unknown today; historians estimate it at between 150 m and 210 m.

Calculations

According to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, one stadium was equal to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). However, the length of the foot varied in different parts of the Greek world, and the length of the stadion has been the subject of argument and hypothesis for hundreds of years. An

empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...

determination of the length of the stadion was made by Lev Vasilevich Firsov, who compared 81 distances given by Eratosthenes and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

with the straight-line distances measured by modern methods, and

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

d the results. He obtained a result of about . Various equivalent lengths have been proposed, and some have been named. Among them are: Which measure of the stadion is used can affect the interpretation of ancient texts. For example, the error in the calculation of Earth's circumference by Eratosthenes or Posidonius is dependent on which stadion is chosen to be appropriate.

Other uses

From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

on, the word ''stadium'' has been used as a synonym for the

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to any of 660 foot (unit), feet, 220 yards, 40 rod (unit), rods, 10 chain (unit), chains, or a ...

(which is 220 yards, equal to one eighth of a

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a imperial unit, British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of Unit of length, le ...

), which is of

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

origin.

References

{{Reflist, refs= C.F. Lehmann-Haupt (1929) "Stadion"; in August Friedrich von Pauly (ed.), ''Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft''. Stuttgart: Metzler; cited in: Edward Gulbekian (1987)
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required. Otto Cuntz (1923)
''Die Geographie des Ptolemaeus: Galliae, Germania, Raetia, Noricum, Pannoniae, Illyricum, Italia''
(in German). Berlin: Weidmann. Cited by: Edward Gulbekian (1987)
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required. D.R. Dicks (1960). ''The Geographical Fragments of Hipparchus. Edited with an Introduction and Commentary''. London: Athlone Press. Cited in: J. L. Berggren, Alexander Jones (2000)
Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters
Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN, 9780691010427. Donald Engels (1985)
The Length of Eratosthenes' Stade
''American Journal of Philology'' 106 (3): 298–311. {{doi, 10.2307/295030 {{subscription required. Edward Gulbekian (1987)
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required. J. L. Berggren, Alexander Jones (2000)
Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters
Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN, 9780691010427. Obsolete units of measurement Ancient Greek units of measurement Units of length Units of measurement in surveying

Calculations

Other uses

See also

References