The Ancient Origins Of The Mile

How did we get to 5,280 feet?

By Gerardus Mercator — Exactissima flandria descriptio.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46592533)

When compared to the modern and elegant kilometer, the mile can feel clunky and outdated. The obtuse nature of the mile is one of the reasons that most nations have switched over to the metric system, choosing the simpler kilometer over the clunky mile. The metric system set out to create a standardized system of measurement that is both easy to use and easy to math. A kilometer is 1,000 meters. A meter is 1,000 millimeters.

Elegant.

The imperial system, buoyed by the standard international mile, is no such thing. A mile is 5,280 feet. There are three feet in a yard and 1,760 yards in a mile. These numbers are not easy to use. In fact, many times they aren’t even easy to remember.

This raises an interesting question. Where did the mile come from? Why is it so complicated? How did it stick around for so long, and why do we still use it today?

The truth is that the mile used to be simple. It used to be elegant. The ancient mile had more in common with the modern kilometer than you might think.

The predecessor to the modern international mile was the Roman mile. Like many things in our world, the mile has roots firmly planted in Ancient Rome. The original mile, mille passus, was known as a thousand paces. The modern…