Gradus
βῆμα
Gradus (βῆμα), a step, as a measure of length, was half a pace (passus), and contained 2 1/2 feet, Greek and Roman respectively; the Greek βῆμα therefore was rather more, and the Roman gradus rather less, than 2 1/2 feet English. (See the Tables.) 2. Bed-steps [LECTUS Vol. II. p. 19 a].
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.