I actually was about to post this quote for another reason as well. Usually you make these references to “known sizes” so people can relate. But no one has seen Napoleon in the flesh _and_ they underestimate his size. This was a useless comparison.
replyThat said, the dig itself is pretty cool and I’m excited to see what they’ll unearth. I’m pretty interested in Roman history but haven’t gone as deep into the history of the provinces.
Semi-related to that, if someone reading this is in the Toronto area, the bata shoe museum has an exhibit (Vindolanda) about unearthed Roman footwear in England
The author should’ve known that we already have an accepted unit for measuring things in terms of a person’s stature:
replyOr about 1/27th of a football field for the Americans
replyThe classic American height reference would make it, depending how you're counting, 1/100 of an Empire State Building.
replyIt's about two and a half Ford Tauri stacked on top of each other
reply>It's about two and a half Ford Tauri stacked on top of each other
replyOr almost exactly one Companhia worth of Tauri stacked on top of each other.
(there's a programming joke in there btw)
Comparing a height to a distance is pretty silly, for Americans and non-Americans alike. Also it's much closer to 1/23rd than 1/27th.
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