Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

STADIUM..STADIUM. 10b5
Thome (iii. 2i9). It' the sketcllhes of tile aitirit adcoriicd illti se n1eni manner the stadiuiii at Athens,
are not too highl- coloured, we itnst conclude that whichl had been originally constructed on the banks
in his time great numnbers of the lower orders de- of the Ilissus by the orator Lycurguls. The marrived their whole sustenance Lansd tile funds for or- ble covering, which took four years to complete.
dinary expenditure exclusively fiom this source, has now disappeared, but thel area is still left, with
while even the highborn did not scruple to increase some ruins of the masonry. ((Pals. i. 19. ~ 7;
their incomes byi taking:advantage of the ostenta- Leake's To)ogicra:y of'ft/ies.).tious profusion-,of- the irich'and vain. (Juv. i. 95.) l he stadiunl sometimes formed a part of.the
A regular' roll was kept at eaclh mansion of the buildings of the gymnasium [GY.NAts mIUn1],- at
persons, male anid female, entitled to receive other tines it was placed inl its neighbourhood, and
the allowance;"thec iames were ciall ed over in often, as at Athens, stood entirely by itself. That
order, the. indi:vidWtmls were iequired to appear ini at Olllmpia was in the sacred grove called Altis.
persol, and ~the-almoner -w as ever on his guard to The size of the'Grecian stadia varied both in
fiustrate the rogulery of ialse pretenders (Juv.. c.), length and breadth; bhut this variety is in all pro.
whence the proverb quoted by' Iertullian (c. (1 1ar- bability to be understood of the size of the whole
cion. iii. 16),:slpotiulaein fitr)ii2ulets capgdt. The enclosure, not of the length of the part marked out
morning, as wse have seen above (Juv. i. 128), was for the race; the latter appears, to have.: been
-the usuasl- period for these dcistributions, but they fixed, while thle former wv-s laturally: different.
wyere sometimes miaderi-ii the afterinooii. (Iartial. according to the accommodation -to be provided for
x. 70.) spectators, or the magnificence wrhich the builder
Nero, imitaitilg the custom of privaite persons, might wish to confer upon the structure. The
ordained that a- sportula. should be substituted Ior fixed length of the course, between the pillarN
the public banquets (publicac coeaen) given to the which marked the beginning and the end;of the
people on certain hilgh'solemnities; but this nopo- race, was 600 Greek feet. There was a tradipular regulation was repealed by Domitian. (Suet. tion that Hiercules measured. it out originally by
er. 16, Doi. 7-; MAartial, viii. o0.) his own foot. It is not improbable that Pheidon,
When the Emperor' Claudiuls -el one ccasion i who claimed to be a descendanit of Herculesr'and
resolved unexpectedly to entertain the popul ace who presided ias agonothete at the Olympic games,
with some- games which w ere to last for a shoit may have fixed the length of the stadium accordtime only, he styled the exhibition a sporeit", and oing to the standard of measure which he estain the age of the younger Pliny the word -was blished.
commonly employed to Signify a gratuity, gift, or The accounts left by ancient writers of the aremolument' of any description. (Plin. Ep. ii. 14i rangemlent of the parts of the stadium are scanty,
x. 118;) but from a comparison of them with existing re(Compare a dissertation one the Sportult b mains of stadia we mlay collect the following parButtmann in the Kritisclc Bibliotliek for 1821; see ticulars.
also Becker, Gallus, vol. i. p. 1 47.) [WV. R.] At one end a straight wall shut inl the area, and
STABULA'RIUS. [RECEPTA ACTIO.] here were the entrances, the starting-place for the
STA'DIUM (6 arrrdios and ob Trd&61v) 1. The runners, and (at Olympia) an altar of Endymion.
foot-race course at Olympia and the other places inl At the other end, at or near the centre of the
Greece where games were celebrated. It was semicircle, and at the fixed distaIlce from the
originally intended for the foot-race, but the other starting-place, was the goal, which was the termicontests which were added to the games from time nation of the simple foot-race, the runners in which
to time [OLrNIPIA] were also exhibited in the Sta- were called oraalopateote: the race itself is called
dium, except the horse-races, for which a place oi rTao, and 8p4duos: in the'lavAos pdpuos the
was set apart, of a similar form withf the stadiumll, racers turned round this and came back to the
but larger: this - was called the HIPPODRnoaorus starting-place. The starting-place and goal had
(17rrdpo 05os). various names: the former was called &poens,
The stadium was mun oblong area terminalted at?ypap-yp, ie'osrAX(, and B3aAgls: the latter rlEpjLa,
one end by a straight line, at the other by a semi- I arTp, 7eAos, Kalrr'sTp and v;eea. The terlm
circle having the breadth of the stadiunm for its?ypajAlxA' is explained as the line along which the
base. Itound this area were ranges of seats rising racers were placed before starting; v'ho-rX's, -which
above one another in steps. means tie las/i oJea iwiipj, is supposed to have been
It was constructed in three different way's, ac- a cord whicll was stretched in fi'ont of the racers
cording to the nature of the ground. The simplest to restrain their impatience, and whichll was let falll
form was thati ill which at place could be found when thle signal was given to start; the name
wvhich had by nature the required shape, as at tcau7rriTp was applied to the goal because the runLaodicea.' -Most commonly, however, a, position ners in the 8iavAos and'oAnXos tln'ned round it to
wvas chosen' on the side of a hill, and the stadiumn complete their course. These terms are often apwvas formed on one side by the natural slope, oni plied indifferently to the starting-place and the
the other by a mound of earth (?y~s Xjua), as at goal; probatbly because the starting-place was also
Olympia, Thebes, and Epidaurus. (Pausan. ii. 27. the end of all races, except the simple eaOr'oe.
~ 6, vi. 20. ~ 5, 6, ix. 23. ~ 1.) Sometinmes, how — The starting-place and goal were each marked by
ever, the stadium wvas on level ground, and mounds a square pillar (o-rTXAa, KioVES KivoeLiess), and
of earth were cast up round it to form seats, and half way between these was a thild. On the first
covered with stone or marble. WVe have two cele-'was inscribed the word api'rt'eve, ol the second
brated examples of this construction in the Pythian o'irede, on the third iccauooe. The &on.lXoSpruoL
Stadium at Delphi and the Panathenaic at Athens. turned round both the extreme pillars till they had
The former was originally constiucted of Parnas- completed the number of stadia of which their
Eia.n stone, and afterwards covered with Pentelic coumrse consisted, which appears to have been diimatble by Herodes Atticus (Paus. x. 32'~ 1),'who' fercnt on different occasions, fobr the length of the