Note 214 — Chapter II
W. (William) Falconer translation
Gosselin says, “Read 4000, as in lib. xvii. This correction is indicated by the following measure given by Herodotus:
From the sea to Heliopolis 1500 stadia
From Heliopolis to Thebes 4860
——
6300
The stadium made use of in Egypt at the time of Herodotus consisted of 1111-1/9 to a degree on the grand circle, as may be seen by comparing the measure of the coasts of the Delta furnished by that historian with our actual information. The length of this stadium may likewise be ascertained by reference to Aristotle. In the time of Eratosthenes and Strabo, the stadium of 700 to a degree was employed in Egypt. Now 6360 stadia of 1111-1/9 to a degree make just 4006 stadia of 700: consequently these two measures are identical, their apparent inconsistency merely resulting from the different scales by which preceding authors had expressed them.” This reasoning seems very plausible, but we must remark that Col. Leake, in a valuable paper “On the Stade as a Linear Measure,” published in vol. ix. of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, is of opinion that Gosselin’s system of stadia of different lengths cannot be maintained.