Definition:Historic Measures/Length/Leuca

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Definition

The leuca is a unit of length.


\(\ds \) \(\) \(\ds 1\) leuca
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds 1500\) paces
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds 7500\) feet
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds 90 \, 000\) inches


Also known as

A leuca can also be found rendered as leuva and leuga.


Also see


Historical Note

The leuca was defined as $1500$ paces, which itself was a double step, and is something like about $5$ feet.

Thus a leuca was about one (statute) mile and a half.

Compare this with the Roman mille passuum, which is literally $1000$ paces.

The word is similar to league, which in its modern definition is $3$ (statute) miles.


Sources