stadion

Noun

stadion (plural stadia or stadions)

1. (historical) A Greek unit of distance based on standardized footraces, equivalent to about 185.4 metres.
   • The stadion did not suffice for the races of horses and chariots which had been favorites with the Greeks since the Trojan war.1883: Franz von Reber (translated by Joseph Thacher Clarke), History of ancient art, p257 (S. Low…)
   • The stadion was used specifically for human athletic contests whereas the Greek hippodrome and later the Roman circus were used for equestrian events. The gymnasion and the palaistra were used for training purposes for human athletic events.1993: David Gilman Romano, Athletics and Mathematics in Archaic Corinth: The Origins of the Greek Stadion, page 1 (Diane Publishing Co.; →ISBN (10) (13))

   Synonyms:

   furlong, stade, stadium

2. Synonym of stadium (“Ancient Greek racecourse”).
   • The stadion did not suffice for the races of horses and chariots which had been favorites with the Greeks since the Trojan war. In such early ages, any goal chosen in the plain was sufficient, like the oak-trunk mentioned by Homer; but it could not have been long before the need was manifest of a...1882, Franz von Reber, translated by Joseph Thacher Clarke, History of Ancient Art, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], pages 17–18
   • […] to my mind, that honor which a man attains by the wealth that allows him to buy the speediest horses and hire the most skilful drivers, compares poorly with the honor he wins who descends naked into the stadion and conquers by the strength of his muscles, the cunning of his brain, and the...1896, Duffield Osborne, “A Day at Olympia”, in Scribner’s Magazine, volume XIX, number 50, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons; London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Limited, page 436, column 1

   Synonyms:

   stadium