Stadion (unit)
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". The stadion (plural stadia, Template:Langx;[1] latinized as stadium), also anglicized as stade, was an ancient Greek unit of length, 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, 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.[2]Template:R/superscript[3]Template:R/superscript
An empirical determination of the length of the stadion was made by Lev Vasilevich Firsov, who compared 81 distances given by Eratosthenes and Strabo with the straight-line distances measured by modern methods, and averaged the results. He obtained a result of about Script error: No such module "convert"..[2]Template:R/superscript Various equivalent lengths have been proposed, and some have been named.[4]Template:R/superscript Among them are:
| Stadion name | Length (approximate) | Description | Proposed by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| metres | yards | |||
| Itinerary | 157 m | Script error: No such module "convert". | used in measuring the distance of a journey.[5] | Jean Antoine Letronne, 1816[2]Template:R/superscript |
| Olympic | 192 m[6] | Script error: No such module "convert". | 200 Heracles steps | Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt, 1929[4]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript |
| Ptolemaic[8]Template:R/superscript or Attic | 185 m | Script error: No such module "convert". | 600 × 308 mm | Otto Cuntz, 1923;[4]Template:R/superscript[8]Template:R/superscript D.R. Dicks, 1960[3]Template:R/superscript[9]Template:R/superscript |
| Babylonian–Persian | 196 m | Script error: No such module "convert". | 600 × 327 mm | Lehmann-Haupt, 1929[4]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript |
| Phoenician–Egyptian | 209 m | Script error: No such module "convert". | 600 × 349 mm | Lehmann-Haupt, 1929[4]Template:R/superscript[7]Template:R/superscript |
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[10] or Posidonius is dependent on which stadion is chosen to be appropriate.
Other uses
From the Middle Ages on, the word stadium has been used as a synonym for the furlong (which is 220 yards, equal to one eighth of a mile), which is of Old English origin.[11]
See also
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Template:LSJ.
- ↑ a b c Donald Engels (1985). The Length of Eratosthenes' Stade. American Journal of Philology 106 (3): 298–311. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers". Template:Link note.
- ↑ a b J. L. Berggren, Alexander Jones (2000). Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ a b c d e 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. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".. Template:Link note.
- ↑ Hoyle, Fred Astronomy, Rathbone Books Limited, London 1962 LC 62-14108
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c 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. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".. Template:Link note.
- ↑ a b 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. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".. Template:Link note.
- ↑ 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. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".