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The measures of the poleis, from the daktylos to the stadion. Part of the Ancient Measures collection.
Every unit converts through meters, using the Attic standards: pous = 0.308 m, daktylos = pous/16, palaiste = pous/4, pechys = 1.5 pous, stadion = 600 pous, parasang = 30 stades. Worked example: the Olympic stadion = 600 × 0.308 = 184.8 m — the sprint that started the Games in 776 BC. Greek cities guarded their own standards: the Samian foot ran ~34 cm, Pergamon’s ~33 cm. Athens’ is the scholarly default.
It depends which Greek: the Attic pous is 30.8 cm, but surviving foot-rules show 29.4–34 cm across cities. Unlike Rome, Greece never had one imperial standard — each polis kept its own.
600 feet — about 185 m at Athens, but 177 m at Olympia’s own track and up to 192 m elsewhere. The ‘stade’ of ancient geography is a rubber ruler; see the article.
The Persian league, 30 stades (~5.5 km) — an hour’s walk. Greeks met it on campaign (Xenophon’s Anabasis marches in parasangs) and brought the word home.
Greek Weight Greek Volume Roman Length Persian Length Jewish Length