an ancient Greek long measure, containing 125 geometrical paces, or 625 Roman feet, corresponding to our furlong. The word is said to be formed from the Greek word στάδιος, "a station," or στάνειν, "to stand," because it is reported that Hercules having run a stadium at one breath, flood fell at the end of it. The Greeks usually measured distances by stadia, which they called stadiones. Stadium also signified the course on which their races were run.