Stadion (stad)

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

The length of the footrace track at Olympia, about 192 m. Other Greek cities used slightly different stadia, from roughly 150 to 210 m.

1 stadion = 192 meters (approximately).

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

About the stadion

From the Greek word stadion came the Latin stadium and the English stade, and eventually the stadium where athletes compete. It was the footrace track, and as a distance it was defined, according to Herodotus, as 600 Greek feet. Because the foot differed between cities, the stadion did too. The Olympic version is put at about 192 m, which one table describes as 200 Heracles steps, a proposal from Carl Lehmann-Haupt in 1929.

Estimates for other stadia show how loose the unit is. A figure near 185 m is the most common convergence for the Ptolemaic or Attic stadion, while Babylonian-Persian and Phoenician-Egyptian values reach about 196 and 209 m, and an itinerary stadion near 157 m has been argued for road distances. The overall range is roughly 150 to 210 m. The choice matters for judging Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth. Eight stadia made a Roman mile, and the medieval stadium came to mean the furlong, about 201 m in modern terms.

Sources: Wikipedia: Stadion (unit); Wikipedia: Ancient Greek units of measurement

Stadion conversion chart

1 stadion expressed in every other length unit:

More Ancient Greek units

• Greek foot (Olympic) (length)
• Attic talent (weight & mass)
• Attic mina (weight & mass)
• Attic drachma (weight & mass)
• obol (weight & mass)
• olympiad (time)
• myriad (counting & quantity)

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