Stichometry
（重定向自Stichoi）
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![Total Stichometry on a Papyrus Column: A line count in the subscription on the last column of a text by the philosopher Philodemus (1st century BCE). The first line says 'ΦΙΛΟΔΗΜ[ΟΥ]' or 'By Philodemus' (brackets around restored characters). The second says '[ΠΕΡΙ ΡΗΤ]ΟΡΙΚΗC' or 'On Rhetoric.' The last says 'XXXXHH' or '4200 [lines].' Transcription of papyrus charred by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE and excavated at Herculaneum (Oxford, 1824).](/uploads/202502/13/Philedemus_Herculaneum_subscription_enhance2238.jpg)
![Partial Stichometry in Plato: The lambda in the margin means 'line 1100' since lambda is the eleventh letter in the Greek alphabet. The Greeks used letters of the alphabet for numerals but decorated them to distinguish them from ordinary letters, here with a two bars and two dots. The same stichometric notations appear in another Plato manuscript and they probably derive from an early edition.[26] Clarke Codex of Plato's Dialogues, copied in 895 CE, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, leaf 210v, detail.](/uploads/202502/13/Clark_Symp_210v_lambda_crop2238.jpg)
Stichometry refers to the practice of counting lines in texts: Ancient Greeks and Romans measured the length of their books in lines, just as modern books are measured in pages. This practice was rediscovered by German and French scholars in the 19th century. Stichos is the Greek word for a 'line' of prose or poetry and the suffix '-metry' is derived from the Greek word for measurement.