Stremma

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The stremma (Greek:στρέμμα, plural στρέμματα) is a Greek unit of land area, equal to 1000 square metres, also called the 'royal' stremma. The name comes from a root meaning 'to turn', presumably referring to the amount of land that can be plowed/turned in a day.[1]

The "old", "Turkish", or "Ottoman" stremma was approximately 1270 m² (Λεξικό, 1998): it was the Greek name of the Ottoman dönüm,[2] which was in turn based on the Byzantine stremma (see below). But Lapavitsas uses the value of 1600 m² for the region of Naoussa in the early 20th century.[3]

The medieval or Morean stremma was different, somewhere between 900 and 1900 m², depending on the period and perhaps even the type of land.[4]

The Byzantine stremma was defined as 100 square Greek feet or 40 Greek paces. It is likely the ancestor of the Ottoman dönüm/stremma.[5]

Conversions

One stremma is equivalent to:

Metric

  • 1,000 square metres
  • 10 ares
  • 1 decare
  • 0.1 hectare
  • 0.001 square kilometres

English units

  • 10,763.9 square feet
  • 0.247 105 38 international acres
  • 0.247 104 39 U.S. survey acres; 1 acre ≈ 4.047 stremmata
  • 0.000 386 102 square miles (statute)

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References

  1. Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (Dictionary of Modern Greek), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών, Θεσσαλονίκη, 1998. ISBN 960-231-085-5
  2. Λεξικό
  3. Costas Lapavitsas, "Social and Economic Underpinning of Industrial Development: Evidence from Ottoman Macedonia", Ηλεκτρονικό Δελτίο Οικονομικής Ιστορίας [1]
  4. Siriol Davis, "Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VI: administration and settlement in Venetian Navarino", Hesperia, Winter, 2004 [2]
  5. 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 (referenced but not seen)