σκυτάλη

σκῠτάλη [ᾰ], ἡ,

• staff, cudgel, club, D.S. 3.8; σ. ἀγριέλαιος, of Heracles’ club, AP 9.237 (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. HG 3.3.8, 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 B 170 (ii B.C.); ἐλέφαντος ibid.; cf. Hld. 9.15.
    • 6 scourge whip, Moer. p.346 P.
    • 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.

σκυτάλη, ἡ (ξύω, vgl. σκύταλον), Stock, Stab, Stecken, bes. ein oben dicker Knittel, Knüppel, Keule, Plat. Theaet. 209d u. Sp.; Walze, Rollbaum, um Lasten fortzurollen, Mathem. vett.
Bei den Lazedämoniern ein geheimes Schreiben, welches auf einen Riemen od. Streifen, den man um einen Stab wickelte, so in fortlaufenden Zeilen überquer geschrieben wurde, daß nur der das Geschriebene recht lesen konnte, der den Streifen um einen Stab von gleicher Dicke wickelte ; Λακωνική, Ar. Lys. 991, wo die Schol. bemerken, daß der Stab in zwei Stücke geschnitten, und eines dem Feldherrn gegeben wurde, das andere in der Stadt zurückblieb ; κήρυκα πέμψαντες καὶ σκυτάλην, Thuc. 1.131 ; Xen. Hell. 3.3.89 ; Gell. N.A. 17.9 ; dah. übh. Nachricht, Botschaft, σκυτάλα μοισᾶν, Pind. Ol. 6.91.
Bei Nic. Ther. 384 eine Schlange, so dick wie ein Stock.

For Pindar, see also: σκυτάλα

σκυτάλη σκῠτάλη (ᾰ), ἡ,

• • Ia staff, cudgel, club, Anth.
  • IIat Sparta, a staff or baton, used as a cypher for writing dispatches:—a strip of leather was 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 papers, and so were able to read the dispatches:—hence σκυτάλη came to mean a Spartan dispatch, Thuc., Xen.; and generally a message, Pind. deriv. uncertain