What this unit was
Philetaeric pous is modelled here as a length standard of the Greek tradition, associated with Pergamon during Hellenistic representative. The converter represents one pous as 0.33 m; its basis is architecture-inferred. The matrix carries an indicative uncertainty of ± 0.002 m.
Within that setting, the unit belonged to a working system for survey, building, travel, and the organisation of built space. It should be read with its period, locality, and evidential basis attached, not as a universal value shared by every culture using a similar name.
Evidence of use and sources
The working value is traceable to Smith Dictionary Mensura. Its record is classified as medium confidence and uses the stated basis rather than an assumed culture-wide constant.
Three directly pertinent excerpts from the supplied library are available.
“The rest of the Measures are founded on known proportions.”
Tables of antient coins, weights, and measures, PDF p. 78. reconstructed proportional systems
“Stadium contain'd 125 Roman Paces, or 625 Feet”
Tables of antient coins, weights, and measures, PDF p. 81. Roman distance relationship
“the trade value of the Attic standard, and ... the coinage value”
Flinders Petrie, Ancient Weights and Measures, PDF p. 31. trade and coin systems must be distinguished
What the unit meant
The Philetaeric foot is associated with Pergamon and reconstructed near 330 mm in the classical metrological literature. Recent analysis of ancient geographic distances also identifies a longer stadion family, showing that itinerary units may involve conversion conventions rather than one naive multiplication applied everywhere. Metrology here becomes a problem in texts, roads, and political systems as much as architecture.
How this site models it
The converter includes the foot itself and labels the value as an architectural reconstruction with medium confidence. It does not manufacture a single Philetaeric stadion row where the literature reports more than one itinerary convention. That omission is a feature: when the evidence is unsettled, the tool should narrow its claim rather than make the interface look complete.
What not to infer
Names attached to rulers or regions can outlive the administrative conditions that formed them. Before applying the value to a Hellenistic text, ask whether the author, route, manuscript tradition, and modern editor are using the same standard. Conversion begins after identification, not before it.
Pergamon: the case-study lens
Recognition yields here to metrological interest: a royal hill city connects architectural modules, terrain, long sight lines, and engineered water. This pairing is a historically bounded investigation, not a claim that one decimal unlocks the whole building.
Open the full Pergamon dossier.
Values in the site matrix
| Standard | Representative | Uncertainty | Region | Period | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philetaeric pous | 0.33 m | ±0.002 m | Pergamon | Hellenistic representative | medium |
Sources
- Smith Dictionary Mensura; basis: architecture inferred.