bematist
Sign in to saveBematist (), plural bematists or bematistae (), meaning 'step measurer' (from βῆμα bema, meaning 'step, pace'), were specialists in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt who measured distances by pacing.
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Measurements of Alexander's bematists
- List of bematists
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
Bematist (), plural bematists or bematistae (), meaning 'step measurer' (from βῆμα bema, meaning 'step, pace'), were specialists in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt who measured distances by pacing.
==Measurements of Alexander's bematists== Bematists accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaign in Asia. Their measurements of the distances traveled by Alexander's army show a high degree of accuracy to the point that it had been suggested that they must have used an odometer, although there is no direct mentioning of such a device:
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “bematist” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.