Historical Units

Stadion

Definition

Das Stadion (oder Stade) ist eine altgriechische Längeneinheit von ungefähr 185 Metern (600 griechische Fuß), ursprünglich als die Länge einer Laufbahn definiert.

Erklärung

The word 'stadium' derives directly from this unit, as Greek athletic facilities were built to accommodate one stadion of racing distance. Eratosthenes famously used the stadion around 240 BC to estimate Earth's circumference at approximately 250,000 stadia — yielding a result within ~2% of the modern value, depending on which regional stadion he used. The exact length varied between Greek city-states, ranging from 157 m to 211 m.

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