Every summer solstice in the city of Syene, the sun was directly overhead at noon. On the same day at noon in a city called Alexandia, a city north of Syene, the angle between the perpendicular to the ground and the rays of the sun was about 7;5 degrees. The distance between Syene and Alexandria was known to be about 5,000 states, the stade was a Greek unit of measurement, and 1 stade is approximately 600 feet.