Interpreting Leonard of Scio’s Measurement
If the phrase “seventy stadia” in Leonard of Scio’s account is understood in its ordinary and classical meaning, the result is highly problematic. Seventy stadia would equal more than eight English miles. No route between Tophane and Beşiktaş, across the hills to the Golden Horn, comes anywhere near such a distance. This obvious difficulty has led many scholars to question what Leonard really meant by his words.
Because the plain meaning of the number does not fit the geography of Constantinople, historians have tried to reinterpret Leonard’s language in several different ways in order to bring it into agreement with the known facts The Account of Leonard of Scio and the Question of Distance.
The View That “Seventy” Refers to Ships, Not Distance
One influential explanation was proposed by Dethier in his notes to Zorzo Dolfin’s account of the siege. According to Dethier, the number seventy does not describe the length of the route at all. Instead, it refers to the number of ships that were transported over the hills. In his words, “they are not seventy stadia, but seventy galleys or other vessels.”
This interpretation removes the problem of distance entirely. It also agrees well with other sources that mention a fleet of roughly seventy ships being moved into the Golden Horn. However, this explanation requires us to assume that Leonard’s text is unclear or misleading in its wording.
Charles Müller’s Explanation
A similar opinion was expressed by Charles Müller, the editor of Critobulus. Müller agrees with Dethier that the number seventy most likely refers to the ships rather than to the stadia. He further suggests that the actual number of stadia may have dropped out of the text during copying. According to Müller, the surviving word “seventy” was then wrongly understood as a measurement of distance Tours Bulgaria.
Müller supports his argument by pointing out that other historians, such as Chalcondyles, also give the same number of ships. This strengthens the idea that Leonard’s “seventy” was originally connected with the fleet, not with the length of the route.
Other Possible Explanations
There are two other possible ways to explain Leonard’s statement. One is that the number seventy is simply the result of a copying error in the manuscript. Such mistakes were common in medieval texts, especially when numbers were involved.
Another possibility is that Leonard used the word “stadium” in a special or unusual sense, different from the classical Olympic stadion. There is some reason to support this idea.
Evidence of Unusual Use of “Stadium”
Elsewhere in Leonard’s writings, his use of stadia seems clearly inaccurate if the ordinary meaning of the word is applied. For example, Leonard describes a bridge built by the Sultan at Hasköy to bring cannon closer to the harbor walls. While Phrantzes says this bridge was about one stadion long, Leonard describes it as nearly thirty stadia. If taken literally, this would make the bridge several miles long, even though the harbor is less than half a mile wide.
In another passage, Leonard states that the Turkish fleet anchored less than one hundred stadia from the shore of the Propontis. If this refers to the distance between Beşiktaş and Seraglio Point, it would mean that part of the Bosporus was nearly ten miles wide, which is clearly impossible.
A Shorter Byzantine Stadium
Charles Müller offers an important suggestion to explain these errors. He believes that the Byzantine stadium used by later writers was about one-third shorter than the ancient Olympic stadium. Even with this adjustment, however, Leonard’s measurements remain highly exaggerated.
In conclusion, Leonard of Scio’s reference to “seventy stadia” cannot be taken in its ordinary sense. Whether the number refers to ships, results from a copying error, or reflects an unusual definition of the stadium, it does not provide reliable information about the route used by the Ottoman ships. Leonard’s account remains valuable for its description of events, but his measurements cannot be used with confidence to settle questions of distance or geography.The Problem of the “Seventy Stadia”
Interpreting Leonard of Scio’s Measurement
