Stremma Explained

The stremma (stremmata; el|στρέμμα, strémma) is unit of land area used mainly in Greece and Cyprus, equal to 1,000 square metres or approximately ¼ acre.

History

The ancient Greek equivalent was the square plethron, which served as the Greeks' form of the acre. It was originally defined as the area plowed by a team of oxen in a day^[1] but was nominally standardized as the area enclosed by a square 100 Greek feet (pous) to a side. It was the size of a Greek wrestling square.

The Byzantine or Morean stremma continued to vary depending on the period and the quality of the land, but usually enclosed an area between 900-.^[2] It was originally also known as the "plethron" but this was eventually replaced by "stremma", derived from the verb for "turning" the ground with a Byzantine plow.^[3]

The Ottoman stremma, often called the Turkish stremma, is the Greek (and occasionally English) name for the dunam, which in turn is probably derived from the Byzantine unit.^[4] Again, this varied by region: some values include 1270m2,^[5] and 1,600 m².^[6]

Conversions

One modern stremma is equivalent to:

Metric

• 1,000 square metres
• 0.1 hectares
• 0.001 square kilometres

Imperial

• 10,763.9 square feet
• 0.247 105 38 acres
• 0.000 386 102 square miles

See also

• 1 E3 m² for further comparisons
• Byzantine units
• Conversion of units
• Greek units
• Metric units

Notes and References

1. .
2. Siriol Davis, "Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VI: administration and settlement in Venetian Navarino", Hesperia, Winter, 2004 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SDG/is_1_73/ai_n13493303/pg_17
3. Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (Dictionary of Modern Greek), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών, Θεσσαλονίκη, 1998.
4. V.L. Ménage, Review of Speros Vryonis, Jr. The decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the process of islamization from the eleventh through the fifteenth century, Berkeley, 1971; in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) 36:3 (1973), pp. 659-661. at JSTOR (subscription required); see also Erich Schilbach, Byzantinische Metrologie.
5. The Dictionary of Modern Greek Λεξικό, 1998
6. [Costas Lapavitsas]