Stade
Stade
(), the proper designation of a term used in two senses in the Bible.
I. A furlong, a Greek measure of distance universally current in the East from the time of Alexander the Great, and hence occasionally occurring in the Apocrypha (2Ma 10:16; 2Ma 10:29; 2Ma 11:5; 2Ma 12:9; 2Ma 12:17) and the New Test. (Luk 24:13; Joh 6:19; Joh 11:18; Rev 14:20; Rev 21:16), but regularly in Josephus for the determination of the location of places. One (Olympic) stadium, as a measure, contained, according to Herodotus (2, 149), 600 Greek feet, i.e., according to Pliny (2, 21; comp. Censorinus, p. 13), 125 Roman paces or 625 feet, so that eight stadia made up a Roman mile (comp. Strabo, 7, 322; Pliny, 3, 39, 8). According to late researches (see Ukert, Geogr. d. Griechen, 1, 2, 73 sq.; Forbiger, Handb. 1, 551 sq.), 600 Greek feet = 570 feet 3 inches 4 lines, Paris measure, or 6063 feet English. It appears, likewise, from the above passages of Luke, that 60 stadia were reckoned as 6 miles, and John (Joh 11:18) reckons 15 stadia as 1 3/8 of a mile. In the Talmud the stadium is called or , of which 7 went to the Roman mile (Reland, Paloest. p. 408). SEE METROLOGY.
II. A race course in the public games (1Co 9:24; comp. Heb 12:1; in the Talmud, , Aboda Sara, 1, 7), where the lists (), whether armed or unarmed, was located, and which was generally (not always; see Forbiger, ut sup. p. 551 sq.) 125 paces or 600 Greek feet long (see Potter, Gr. Antiq. 1, 962 sq.). Whoever first reached the goal () received from the arbiter (, , or , Sueton. Nero, 53) the prize (, 1 Corinthians loc. cit.; Php 3:14), namely, a crown (, 1Co 9:25) of living twigs or leaves. Every important city of Greece and the Greek colonies of Asia Minor (also the Palestinian cities that contained many Greek inhabitants; Josephus, Life, 17, 64) had its stadium, either separate or in connection with the gymnasia (Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterth. 2, 678). See Lydii Agonistica Sacra (Rotterd. 1657). SEE GAME.