STA´DIUM
STA´DIUM (
στάδιον, pl.
in prose most often
στάδιοι Doric
σπάδιον; cf. Lat.
spatium).
1. The foot-race course at Olympia and the other places in Greece where games
were celebrated. It was originally intended for the foot-race, but the other
contests which were added to the games from time to time [
OLYMPIA] were also exhibited in
the Stadium, except the horse-races, for which a place was set apart, of a
similar form with the stadium, but larger: this was called the
HIPPODROMUS (
ἱππόδρομος).
The plan of the Olympic stadium, as discovered by recent excavations, was
rectangular. This, however, is exceptional, for most others known to us were
terminated at one end by a straight line, at the other by a semicircle
having the breadth of the stadium for its base. Round this area were ranges
of seats rising above one another in steps.
It was constructed in three different ways, according to the nature of the
ground. The simplest form was that in which a place could be found which had
by nature the required shape, as at Laodicea. Most commonly, however, a
position was chosen on the side of a hill, and the stadium was formed on one
side by the natural slope, on the other by a mound of earth (
γῆς χωμα), as at Olympia, Thebes, and Epidaurus
(
Paus. 2.27.6;
6.20, § § 5, 6; 9.23.1). Sometimes, however, the
stadium was on level ground, and mounds of earth were cast up round it to
form seats, and covered with stone or marble. We have two celebrated
examples of this construction in the Pythian stadium at Delphi and the
Panathenaic at Athens. The former was originally constructed of Parnassian
stone, and afterwards covered with Pentelic marble by Herodes Atticus (
Paus. 10.32.1), who adorned in the same manner
the stadium at Athens, which had been originally constructed on the banks of
the Ilissus by the orator Lycurgus. The marble covering, which took four
years to complete, has now disappeared, but the area is still left, with
some ruins of the masonry (
Paus. 1.19.7;
Leake's
Topography of Athens).
The stadium sometimes formed a part of the buildings of the gymnasium [
GYMNASIUM], at other times it
was placed in its neighbourhood, and often, as at Athens, stood entirely by
itself. That at Olympia was just outside and slightly to the N.E. of the
sacred enclosure called Altis.
The size of the Grecian stadia varied both in length and breadth; but this
variety is possibly in some cases to be understood of the size of the whole
enclosure, not of the length of the part marked out for the race; the latter
would naturally have been fixed, while the former differed according to the
accommodation to be provided for spectators, or the magnificence which the
builder might wish to confer upon the structure. The length of the course,
between the pillars which marked the beginning and the end of the race, was
always 600 (Greek) feet, but the foot unit varied in size [
vide
MENSURA]. There was a tradition
that Hercules measured it out at Olympia originally by his own foot. It is
not improbable that Pheidon, who claimed to be a descendant of Hercules, and
who presided as agonothete at the Olympic games, may have fixed the length
of the stadium according to the standard of measure which he established.
The accounts left by ancient writers of the arrangement of the parts of the
stadium are scanty, but from a comparison of them with existing remains of
stadia we may collect the following particulars.
At one end a straight wall shut in the area, and here were the entrances, the
starting-place for the runners, and (at Olympia) an altar of Endymion. At
the other end, at or near the centre of the semicircle, and at the fixed
distance from the starting-place, was the goal, which was the termination of
the simple foot-race, the runners in which were called
σταδιοδρόμοι: the race itself is called
στάδιον and
δρόμος: in the
δρόμος the
racers turned round this and came back to the starting-place. The
starting-place and goal had various names: the former was called
ἄφεσις, γραμμή, ὕσπληξ, and
βαλβίς: the latter
τέρμα,
βατήρ, τέλος, καμπτήρ, and
νύσσα. The term
γραμμὴ is
explained as the
line along which the racers
were placed before starting;
ὕσπληξ, which
means
the lash of a whip, is supposed to have been a
cord which was stretched in front of the racers to restrain their
impatience, and which was let fall when the signal was given to start; the
name
καμπτὴρ was applied to the goal
because the runners in the
δίαυλος and
δόλιχος
turned round it to complete their course. These
terms are often applied indifferently to the starting-place and the goal;
probably because the starting-place was also the end of all races, except
the simple
στάδιον. The starting-place and
goal were each marked by a square pillar (
στῆλαι,
κίονες κυβοειδεῖς), and half-way between these was a third.
On the first was inscribed the word
ἀρίστευε, on the second
σπεῦδε, on the third
κάμψον.
The
δολιχοδρόμοι turned round both the
extreme pillars till they had completed the number of stadia of which their
course consisted, which appears to have been different on different
occasions, for the length of the
δόλιχος
δρόμος is variously stated at 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, and 24 stadia
(Schol.
ad
Soph. Electr. 691).
The semicircular end of the area, which was called
σφενδονή, and was not used in the races, was probably
devoted to the other athletic sports. This
σφενδονὴ is still clearly seen in the Ephesian and Messenian
stadia, in the latter of which it is
[p. 2.694]surrounded by
16 rows of seats. The area of the stadium was surrounded by the seats for
spectators, which were separated from it by a low wall or podium.
Opposite to the goal, on one side of the stadium, were the seats of the
Hellanodicae, for whom there was a secret entrance into the stadium
(
κρυπτὴ ἔσοδος), and on the other
side was an altar of white marble, on which the priestesses of Demeter
Chamyne sat to view the games. The area was generally adorned with altars
and statues.
Such were the general form and arrangement of the Greek stadium. After the
Roman conquest of Greece the form of the stadium was often modified so as to
resemble the amphitheatre by making both its ends semicircular, and by
surrounding it with seats supported by vaulted masonry, as in the Roman
amphitheatre. The Ephesian stadium still has such seats round a portion of
it. A restoration of this stadium is given in the following woodcut, copied
from Krause.
|
Stadium at Ephesus, restored.
|
A is the boundary wall at the Aphesis, 77 feet deep, B C the sides, and D the
semicircular end, of the same depth as A; F F the area, including the
σφενδονή;
b b pieces of masonry jutting out into the
area;
e e the entrances; from
o to
p is the length of an
Olympic stadium; from
q to
z
the range of amphitheatrical seats mentioned above.
The stadium at Olympia (as distinct from the area which formed the course)
was, as has been already mentioned, rectangular, with a breadth of about 32
and a length of 211 metres. The foot of the embankments which enclosed the
area was bordered by a ledge of stone. The area itself lay at a depth of
about three metres below the level of the adjoining Altis. We may here
mention a few details respecting the Olympic stadium restored to view by
recent excavations. In the simple course--the
στάδιον or
δρόμος--the runners
merely traversed once the space from the starting line to the goal. But in
the double course, or
δίαυλος, they
traversed this space twice. The judges were stationed at the end where the
goal stood. Hence runners in the
δίαυλος--and also in the
δόλιχος, which always consisted of an even number of
στάδια--must be supposed to have started from
this end, in order to finish in the immediate presence of the judges. Thus
the arrangements for starting were of necessity alike at both ends. At
Olympia, accordingly, a row of flags, reaching across the course at either
end, formed the common basis on which the competitors took their places
before starting. Standing here in a line, they were separated from one
another by posts inserted perpendicularly in the stone. The sockets in which
these posts stood are still visible. Each is about four Olympia feet distant
from the one next to it, thus allowing ample room for that play of arms
customary among ancient Greek runners.
Stadia were in later times used for other purposes than running, e. g. for
wild-beast shows or hunts (
κυνηγεσίαι).
Hence (as appears from the ruins of the stadium at Ephesus, and from two
inscriptions found in the ruins of the stadium at Laodicea) an amphitheatre
was sometimes built in connexion with the stadium. The podium was built
round the course, and furnished with iron rails as a protection against the
wild animals.
Stadia were late in appearing at Rome. Julius Caesar erected a stadium for
athletes upon the occasion of his fivefold triumph (
Suet. Jul. 39). Augustus, too, seems to have built a stadium in
the Campus Martins (Id.
Aug. 43, 45). Domitian also is named
as having founded a stadium in which young women competed for prizes in
running (Id.
Domit. 4 and 5). But the exercises of the
stadium never attained at Rome the same degree of popularity as those of the
circus and amphitheatre.
(Krause,
Die Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen, p. 131.14;
Müller,
Archäol. der Kunst, § 200;
OLYMPIA)
2. The word also signifies the chief Greek measure for itinerary distances,
which was adopted by the Romans also, chiefly for nautical and astronomical
measurements. It was equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, or to 125 Roman
paces; and the Roman mile contained 8 stadia (
Hdt.
2.149;
Plin. Nat. 2.23.21;
Columell.
R. R. 5.1;
Strabo vii.
p.497). This standard prevailed throughout Greece, under the name
of the Olympic stadium, so called because, as above stated, it was the exact
length of the stadium or foot-race course at Olympia, measured between the
pillars at the two extremities of the course.
[p. 2.695]
As to the length of the Olympic stadium, actual measurement has now put an
end to all dispute. From starting-point to goal the distance is 192.27
metres. Divided by 600, this gives .3205 metre as the length of the Olympic
foot. As the Attic and Olympic foot-lengths were considerably less than
this, we can understand how the fable obtained credence that the Olympic
stadium was originally measured out by the foot of Hêrakles.
Respecting the origin of the stadium as unit of measurement, different
opinions have been advanced. A recent view propounded by Prof. Ridgeway [for
which see
MENSURA p. 161] bids
fair to become generally accepted. According to this, the stadium is simply
the ancient furrowlength. He traces the institution of this unit back to the
time when the Aryan peoples had not yet separated. (
Vide, in addition to the authors above referred to,
Bötticher,
Olympia,2 and
Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums,
Nos. 28, 29, 29a).
There were multiples of the measure, corresponding to the longer races; thus
the
δίαυλος was 2
στάδια, and the
δόλιχος 6
or more. (See above.) The
ἱππικὸν of 4
stadia we may presume to have been the length of one double course in the
chariot-race, which would give 2 stadia for the distance between the pillars
in the hippodrome. In mathematical geography, the ordinary computation was
600 stadia to a degree of a great circle of the earth's surface.
[
P.S] [
J.I.B]