S T A 



of Bamberg ; 6 miles SS.W. of Weifmain. — Alfo, a town 

 of the duchy of Wurzburg ; 7 miles S.S.E. of Ge- 

 munden. 



STADEN, a town of France, in the department of the 

 JLys ; 7 miles S.E. of Dlxmude. — Alfo, a river of Ger- 

 many, which runs ir.to the Nidda, 10 miles N. of Francfort 

 on the Maine. — Alfo, a town of Germany ; 20 miles N.E. 

 of Francfort on the Maine. 



STADIUM, riJisv, an ancient Greek long meafure, con- 

 taining one hundred and twenty-five geometrical paces, or 

 fix hundred and twenty-five Roman feet ; correfponding to 

 our furlong. 



The word is formed from the Greek rao-i-, Jiiition ; and 

 it IS faid, on this occafion, that Hercules, after running fo 

 far at one breath, Hood ilill. The Greeks meafured all their 

 diftances by itadia, which they call raJix^fv. 



Eight iladia make a geometrical or Roman mile ; and 

 twenty, according to M. Dacier, a French league ; but ac- 

 cording to others, eiglit hundred itadia make forty-one and 

 two-thirds of a league. 



Guilletiere obferves, that the fladium was only fix hun- 

 dred Athenian feet, which amount to fix hundred and 

 twenty-five Roman, five hundred and fixty-fix French royal 

 feet, or fix hundred and four Enghfii feet ; fo that the Ita- 

 dium fhould only have been one hundred and thirteen geo- 

 metrical paces. It muft be obferved, however, that the 

 ftadium was different in different times and places. See 

 Measures. 



Stadium was alfo the courfe, or career, in which the 

 Greeks ran their races. 



It is faid to have derived its name from the meafure of 

 length mentioned in the preceding article ; which being 

 equal to the fpace of ground allotted for the foot-race, the 

 courfe was from thence called the ftadium, and the racers 

 were named fladieis, or ftadiodromi. Tlie Eleans, indeed, 

 pretended, that the ftadium at Olympia was meafured by the 

 foot of Hercules, which being longer than that of an or- 

 dinary man, made their (ladium longer than any other in the 

 fame proportion. 



Vitruvius defcribes it as an open fpace one hundred and 

 twenty-five paces long, terminated at the two extremes with 

 two pofts, called career and meta. 



Along it was built a kind of amphitheatre, where the 

 fpeclators were placed to fee the athletre exercife running, 

 wrellling, &c. 



Paufanias (lib. vi.) informs us, that the Olympic ftadium 

 was a terrace compofed of earth ; on one fide of which was 

 the feat of the Hellenodicks, or Hellenodics (fee Helleno- 

 dic/e), and over-againlt them on the other, was an altar of 

 white marble, upon which the priclltfs of Ceres Chamyne, 

 and fome virgins, had the privilege to fit and view the games. 

 At the farther end of the ftadium was the barrier, whence 

 thofe who ran the fimple foot-race began their courfe ; and 

 there, according to the tradition of the E!cans, was the tomb 

 of Endymion. 



According to the dcfcription given by Wheeler, in his 

 travel?, of the remains of the lladium at Athens, which was 

 built by Herodes Atticus, it appears to have been a long 

 place, with two parallel fidci;, clofed up circ\ilarly at l!ie 

 eaft end, and open towards the other end, and about oriC 

 hundred and twenty-five geometrical paces long, and twenty- 

 fix or tvventy-feven broad, which gave it the name of a 

 ftadium. 



Thoujjh the Olympic Itadiiun does not focm to have been 

 fo fplendid as this at Athens, or another at Delphi, built 

 likevvife of marble by the fame mugnilicent citizen of Athens, 

 yet we may fuppofc th«y were all formed upon the faine mo- 



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del, as they were deftined to the fame ufe. In the ftadium 

 were exhibited thofe games which are properly called gym- 

 naflic. At either end of the courfe flood a pillar, the one 

 conllituting the barrier where the race betran, and the other 

 the goal, wfiere the fimple foot-race, inltiluted or revived by 

 Iphilus, ended. 



In the fourteenth Olympiad was added the diaulos, or 

 double ftadium ; and the clinulotlromo't, who ran this race, 

 turned round the pillar erected for that purpofc at the end of 

 the ftadium, and returned to the barrier, where their race 

 terminated. But the doHchodromoi, or runners in the race 

 called dol'uhos, or the long courfe, which was introduced in 

 the fifteenth Olympiad, and which confided of feven, or 

 twelve, or even of twenty-four Itadia, when they came to 

 the barrier, turned again round the pillar tretled at that 

 end, m order to continue their courfe, which required many 

 doublings of the ftadium. 



The ftadium, or race-ground, called the Olympian hi^'po- 

 drome, confifted of two parts ; the firft refeinbled in fhape 

 the prow of a fhip, and was called the barrier. In thi^ place 

 were the ftaiids for the hurfcs and chariots, and here they 

 were matched and prepared for the courfe. The next par- 

 tition was the lijls, or the fpot on which the races were to 

 be run. At the end of the courfe itood a pillar, which was 

 the goal, round which the candidates were to turn ; and that 

 rider or driver who could make the narrowelt turn and ap- 

 proach neareft to it, had the fairefl chance, csteris paribus, 

 of furpafTmg his rivals. To this Horace alludes in the ex- 

 preflion, Meta ferwd'is e-chaia rolis. Beyond this goal, there 

 was a figure placed on purpofe to frighten the horfes, called 

 Taraxippus, or the terrifier of horfes. It is probable, that 

 fome tricks were praftifcd luidcr the difguife of this figure, 

 to render the viftory more difficult, and of courfe more ho- 

 nourable, or to try and prove the relolution and temper of the 

 horfes. On each fide of the courfe, from one end to the 

 other, tie fpeftators were placed ; the molt advantageous 

 flations being afligned to the judges of the games, and 

 other diftinguifhed perfonp. In that place where the horfes 

 ftood which were to run, a long cable was drawn from one 

 fide to the other, which fcrvcd the purpofe of a bariier; 

 about the middle of the p'ow already mentioned, an altar 

 was erefted, upon which Itood a brazen eaule with out- 

 itretched wings, and the figure of a brazen dolphin was 

 likewife placed at the entrance of it. This laft was fo con- 

 trived, that when the prefident of the races thought proper 

 to put it in motion, it would afccnd at once to fuch a 

 height, as to be vifiblo to all the lpedt;.tors. This eagle 

 was dedicated to .Jupiter, the patron god of the Olympic 

 games, as the dolphin was facred to Neptune, the fuppofed 

 creator of the horfe. In the moment when the eagle Iprang 

 into the air, the dolphin funk under ground ; and upon this 

 fignal, the cable was removed, and the horfes advanced from 

 the ftands into the courfe, where they ftood ready to ftart. 

 The fignal for ftarting was probably the lame as in the 

 chariot races, and was given by the founding of a trumpet. 

 The fpace of ground round which the horfes were to run, 

 and the number of times vvhieii they were required to run 

 round it, will make their courfe or heat to ainouut to »bout 

 foin- niilc=;, or fomewhat more. See on this fubjcdl Weft's 

 Odes of Pindar, and Preliminary Diflertation on the Olym- 

 pic Games, p. 43, &:c. p. 84, &c. For other particulars, 

 fee Hii'i'Ouno.Mi:. 



Tiiere were tladia likewife covered over, and cncora- 

 paded with coloiniades and porticoes, ftrving for the fame 

 exercifes in bad weather. Captive children uled to run the 

 ftadium. 



A more natural derivation of the word ftadium, from 



crl«a»c» 



