Stadia (length)

Stadia (length)

The stadia, stadium, stade or stadion is an ancient unit of length. According to Herodotus, one stade is equal to 600 feet. However, there were several different lengths of “feet”, depending on the country of origin.

Which measure of the stadia is used can affect the interpretation of ancient texts. For example, the error in the calculation of the size of the Earth by Eratosthenes is dependent on which stade is chosen to be appropriate. [cite web |url=http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=646&pf=1 |title=Eratosthenes and the Mystery of the Stades |accessdate=2008-07-29 |last=Walkup |first=Newlyn |coauthors= |date=2005 |work=The MAA Mathematical Sciences Digital Library |publisher=]

ee also

*Stadium
*Stadion
*Ancient Egyptian units of measurement#the ro or portion
*Ancient Greek units of measurement#Length

References

Further reading

*cite journal |last=Engels |first=Donald |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1985 |month= |title=The Length of Eratosthenes' Stade |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=298–311 |doi=10.2307/295030 |url= |accessdate= |quote=
*cite journal |last=Gulbekian |first=Edward |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1987 |month= |title=The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC |journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences |volume=37 |issue= |pages=359–363 |id= |url= |accessdate= |quote=


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Stadia — can refer to * The plural of stadium. * Stadia rod, a surveyors instrument. * Stadia (length), an ancient unit of distance …   Wikipedia

  • Stadia — Stadium Sta di*um (st[=a] d[i^]*[u^]m), n.; pl. {Stadia} (st[=a] d[i^]*[.a]). [L., a stadium (in sense 1), from Gr. sta dion.] 1. A Greek measure of length, being the chief one used for itinerary distances, also adopted by the Romans for nautical …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stadia — Stadium Sta di*um (st[=a] d[i^]*[u^]m), n.; pl. {Stadia} (st[=a] d[i^]*[.a]). [L., a stadium (in sense 1), from Gr. sta dion.] 1. A Greek measure of length, being the chief one used for itinerary distances, also adopted by the Romans for nautical …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stadia rod — Stadium Sta di*um (st[=a] d[i^]*[u^]m), n.; pl. {Stadia} (st[=a] d[i^]*[.a]). [L., a stadium (in sense 1), from Gr. sta dion.] 1. A Greek measure of length, being the chief one used for itinerary distances, also adopted by the Romans for nautical …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stadia rod — noun : a graduated rod used with an instrument having stadia hairs to measure the distance from the observation point to the place where the rod is positioned by observation of the length of rod subtended by the distance between the stadia hairs… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Foot (length) — unit of length name= foot m= 0.3048 accuracy=4 A foot (plural: feet or foot; [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv312.shtml BBC World Service] ] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, prime; – the prime… …   Wikipedia

  • Stade — Infobox German Location Art = Stadt Name = Stade image photo = Stade.jpg imagesize = 250px image caption = View of the old hanse harbor of Stade Wappen = Wappen Stadt Stade.jpg lat deg = 53 |lat min = 36 |lat sec = 3 lon deg = 9 |lon min = 28… …   Wikipedia

  • Stadiametric rangefinding — Stadiametric rangefinding, or the stadia method is a technique of measuring distances with a telescopic instrument. The term stadia comes from a Greek unit of length. Stadiametric rangefinding is used for surveying and in the telescopic sights of …   Wikipedia

  • Pytheas — of Massilia (Ancient Greek Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης), 4th century BC, was a Greek geographer and explorer from the Greek colony Massilia (today Marseille, France). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe possibly no earlier than around …   Wikipedia

  • Stadium — This article is about the building type. For other uses, see Stadium (disambiguation). The Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany is the first stadium that can change the color of its exterior …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”