Schoenus ( la, schœnus; grc-gre, σχοίνος, ''schoinos'', "

rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

rope"; egy,

i͗ Yodh (also spelled jodh, yod, or jod) is the tenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Yōd /𐤉, Hebrew Yōd , Aramaic Yod , Syriac Yōḏ ܝ, and Arabic . Its sound value is in all languages for which it is used; in many lan ...

trw, "river-measure") was an ancient

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

, Greek and Roman unit of

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

and area based on the knotted cords first used in

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

Length

The Greeks, who adopted it from the

Egyptians Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...

, generally considered the schoinos equal to 40 stades, but neither the schoinos nor the stadion had an absolute value, and there were several regional variants of each.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

noted that it also varied with terrain, and that when he "ascended the hills, the measures of these schoeni were not everywhere uniform, so that the same number sometimes designated a greater, sometimes a less actual extent of road, a variation which dates from the earliest time and exists in our days." Herodotus
2.6
an

says, that schoenus is 60 stadia or about . This agrees with the distance implied by the Triacontaschoenus stretching south of the First Cataract in Roman-era Nubia. Pliny the Elderbr>5.11
that is 30 stadia. Strabo

according to the place, between 30 and 120 stadia. Isidore of Charax's schoenus—used in his ''

Parthian Stations Isidore of Charax (; grc, Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Χαρακηνός, ''Isídōros o Charakēnós''; la, Isidorus Characenus) was a Greco-Roman geographer of the 1st century BC and 1st century AD, a citizen of the Parthian Empire, about whom nothi ...

''—has been given values between 4.7 and 5.5 kilometers, but the precise value remains controversial given the known errors in some of his distances. The Byzantine schoinion or "little schoenus" (, ''skhoinion'') was or 33⅓ stades.

Area

The Romans also used the schoenus as a unit of area, equivalent to the ''actus quadratus'' or half- jugerum (2523 m²) formed by a square with sides of 120 Roman feet. The Heraclean Tables admonished that each schoenus should be planted with 4 olive trees and some grape vines, upon penalty of fines.

References

Obsolete units of measurement Units of length Ancient Greek units of measurement {{Measurement-stub

Length

Area

See also

References