The distinctive point
A rounded model, with a declared allowance
The working factor comes from a reported Olympia course length and a proposed 600-foot count. Its uncertainty allowance is selected by this site; it is not a survey error quoted by Penrose.
Basis: derived-from-pous. Check the record source.
- smallerAttic stadion1.0839 × Attic stadion
- largerAeginetan stadion1/1.039 of Aeginetan stadion
The working model
This catalogue uses 192.3 m per Olympic stadion: 600 selected feet of 0.3205 m. Penrose reports a 192.27 m stadium. The 3 cm difference is a consequence of the rounded factor. The ±0.9 m allowance propagates the site-selected foot allowance; it is not a source survey error.
Evidence of use and sources
Penrose, Principles of Athenian Architecture (1888), p. 123, reports the course and temple upper-step comparison. The proposed ancient counts remain reconstruction assumptions. Read the appendix page
What the unit meant
A stadion was commonly related to six hundred feet, but the foot itself varied. Excavated racecourses therefore provide crucial evidence: the named unit can stay stable as a counting relationship while its modern length changes with the regional standard. This catalogue’s selected 0.3205 m foot produces a 192.3 m stadion; it does not establish a universal regional standard.
How this site models it
Use the Olympic rows for questions tied specifically to Olympia or scholarship adopting that standard. Use Attic or another regional option when the evidence points elsewhere. The converter deliberately places identically named Greek units next to one another with region and period in the label, turning a likely source of error into the central lesson of the interface.
What not to infer
The ancient stadium is an archaeological feature, a race distance, and the origin of a unit name. Those meanings overlap without becoming identical. Start and finish arrangements, usable track length, and later alterations complicate a simple tape-measure equation. The representative conversion is a tool for reasoning, not a replacement for the excavation report.
The Stadium at Olympia: the case-study lens
A racecourse where a unit name, a count of feet, and an excavated distance meet. This pairing is a historically bounded investigation, not a claim that one decimal unlocks the whole building.
Open the full The Stadium at Olympia dossier.
Values in the site matrix
| Standard | Representative | Uncertainty | Region | Period | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic pous | 0.3205 m | ±0.0015 m | Olympia | Olympia working model; broad historical scope | medium |
| Olympic stadion | 192.3 m | ±0.9 m | Olympia | Olympia working model; broad historical scope | medium |
Sources and Further Reading
- Penrose 1888, p. 123; basis: stadium survey.
- Penrose 1888, p. 123; basis: derived from pous.