Stremma

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The stremma (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.<ref>Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (Dictionary of Modern Greek), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών, Θεσσαλονίκη, 1998. ISBN 960-231-085-5</ref>

The "old", "Turkish", or "Ottoman" stremma was approximately 1270 m² (Λεξικό, 1998): it was the Greek name of the Ottoman dönüm,<ref>Λεξικό</ref> 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.<ref>Costas Lapavitsas, "Social and Economic Underpinning of Industrial Development: Evidence from Ottoman Macedonia", Ηλεκτρονικό Δελτίο Οικονομικής Ιστορίας [1]</ref>

The medieval or Morean stremma was different, somewhere between 900 and 1900 square meters, depending on the period and perhaps even the type of land.<ref>Siriol Davis, "Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VI: administration and settlement in Venetian Navarino", Hesperia, Winter, 2004 [2]</ref>

The Byzantine stremma was defined as 100 square Greek feet or 40 Greek paces. It is likely the ancestor of the Ottoman dönüm/stremma.<ref>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)</ref>