σκυτάλη

English (LSJ)

[ᾰ], ἡ,

   A staff, cudgel, club, D.S.3.8; σ. ἀγριέλαιος, of Heracles' club, AP9.237 (Eryc.); cf. σκύταλον:—Special usages:    1 at Sparta, staff or baton, used as a cypher for writing dispatches, a strip of leather being rolled slantwise round it, on which the dispatches were written lengthwise, so that when unrolled they were unintelligible: commanders abroad had a staff of like thickness, round which they rolled these strips, and so were able to read the dispatches:—hence σκυτάλη came to mean a Spartan dispatch, Th.1.131, X.HG3.3.8, Ar.Lys.991, Plu.Lys.19, Gell.17.9.15; and, generally, dispatch, message, as Pi. calls the bearer of his ode σκυτάλα Μοισᾶν O.6.91, where the Sch. quotes ἀχνυμένη σκυτάλη (dub. sens.) from Archil. (Fr.89.2); ἡ σκυτάλης περιτροπή, of labour in vain (cf. ὕπερος), Pl.Tht.209d.    2 pole or staff, like those of a sedan-chair, LXX Ex.30.4.    3 strickle for levelling grain piled up in a measure, σ. δικαία PTeb.823.15, PAmh.2.43.10 (both ii B.C.), cf. Poll.4.170.    4 wooden tally or ticket on a money-bag, etc., Diosc.Hist.4, D.S.13.106.    5 strip or rod of metal or ivory, κασσιτέρου Inscr.Délos 442 B170 (ii B.C.); ἐλέφαντος ibid.; cf. Hld.9.15.    6 scourge whip, Moer.p.346P.    7 handle or lever in a machine, Orib.49.3.3; handspike for turning a wheel, Ph.Bel.68.6, 85.2, Hero Bel.86.12 (pl.).    II sucker from a stem, Gp.9.11.4, al.    III cylinder or roller wherewith weights are moved, Arist.Mech.852a16, cf. CPHerm. 95.16 (iii A.D.).    IV a serpent, of uniform roundness and thickness, Nic.Th.384, Sor. ap. Philum.Ven.27.3 (for Plu.Crass.32 v. Σκύλλα).    2 a fish of like shape, Opp.H.1.184.    V finger-bone, phalanx, Paul.Aeg.6.43, Tz.H.9.126.