Topic summary
Roman mile
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Mile.
Roman
The Roman mile (mille passus, lit. "thousand paces"; abbr. m.p.; also milia passuum and mille) consisted of a thousand paces as measured by every other step—as in the total distance of the left foot hitting the ground 1,000 times. The distance was indirectly standardised by Agrippa's establishment of a standard Roman foot in 29 BC, and the definition of a pace as 5 (Roman) feet. An Imperial Roman mile thus denoted 5,000 Roman feet. Surveyors and specialised equipment such as the decempeda and dioptra then spread its use.