Stadion (unit)

Its exact length is unknown today; historians estimate it at between 150 m and 210 m. According to Herodotus, one stadium was equal to 600 Greek feet (podes).

[2][3] 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.

[4] 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[10] or Posidonius is dependent on which stadion is chosen to be appropriate.

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.