Roman Mile (mp)

Ancient RomanHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

'A thousand paces' (mille passus): 5,000 Roman feet, about 1.48 km. The word 'mile' comes from it, and Roman roads were marked with milestones at this interval.

1 Roman mile = 1,480 meters (approximately).

Approximate value. Standards for the Roman mile varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About the Roman mile

Latin speakers called it mille passus, a thousand paces, usually abbreviated m.p. A pace was counted each time the same foot struck the ground, so it spanned two steps and was reckoned at five Roman feet, which made the mile 5,000 feet. The English word mile descends from the shortened form of the Latin phrase, through Old English mil.

The length rests on the Roman foot, and that foot is not fixed precisely. Modern estimates of the mile cluster near 1,480 m, one empirical figure being about 1,479 m, and this is the figure used here. Marcus Agrippa's standard foot of around 29 BC is credited with indirectly standardizing it, but measured surviving feet vary by a few millimetres, which shifts the mile by metres.

Stone markers stood at every mile along the empire's paved roads, measured out from the Golden Milestone in the Forum. Eight Roman stadia made a mile, and in Greek-speaking provinces it was rendered as the milion. At roughly 0.92 of an international mile, it survives in the name of the modern mile, though later European miles drifted to very different lengths.

Sources: Wikipedia: Roman mile; Wikipedia: Roman units of measurement

Roman Mile conversion chart

1 Roman mile expressed in every other length unit:

More Ancient Roman units

• Roman inch (uncia) (length)
• Roman foot (length)
• Roman cubit (length)
• Roman pace (length)
• Roman stadium (length)
• Roman league (length)
• Roman pound (libra) (weight & mass)
• Roman ounce (uncia) (weight & mass)
• cyathus (volume)
• sextarius (volume)
• congius (volume)
• modius (volume)
• amphora (volume)
• iugerum (area)
• lustrum (time)
• indiction (time)

All Ancient Roman units

Browse all length units.