σκῠτάλη[ᾰ],ἡ ,
A. staff, cudgel, club, D.S. 3.8 ;ς. ἀγριέλαιος, of Heracles'club,
AP 9.237 ( Eryc. ); cf.σκύταλον:—Special usages:
1. at Sparta,stafforbaton, 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 oflikethickness, round which they rolled these strips, and so were able to read the dispatches:—henceσκυτάληcame to meana 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. quotesἀχνυμένη σκυτάλη(dub. sens.) from Archil. ( Fr. 89.2 );ἡ σκυτάλης περιτροπή, of labour in vain (cf.ὕπερος), Pl. Tht. 209d .
2. poleorstaff,likethose of a sedan-chair, LXX Ex. 30.4 .
3. strickle for levelling grainpiled up in a measure, ς. δικαία
PTeb. 823.15
, PAmh. 2.43.10 (bothii B.C.), cf. Poll. 4.170 .