σκῆπτρον, τό:
Doric dialect σκᾶπτον [[(5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “O.” 7.28, “P.” 1.6, etc.)] Refs 5th c.BC+], later σκᾶπτρον [[(“Anthologia Graeca” 7.428 (1st c.BC: Meleager Epigrammaticus)), but σκῆπτρον] Refs 1st c.BC+] in Lyric poetry passages of Trag., as [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Philoctetes” 140 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]: (σκήπτω):— staff or stick, used by the lame or aged, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 18.416, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 13.437, 14.31, 17.199, 18.103; ἰσχὺν.. νέμοντες ἐπὶ σκήπτροις 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 75 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; σκήπτρῳ προδεικνύς, of a blind man feeling his way, [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 456; πρεσβῦται.. σκήπτροισιν ἄκασκα προβῶντες 5th c.BC: Cratinus Comicus 126: _metaphorically_ of the daughters of Oedipus, ὦ σκῆπτρα φωτός] Refs 5th c.BC+] his staffs or supports, [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Coloneus” 1109, compare 848:] Refs 5th c.BC+] —the Prose word is βακτηρία.
__II staff or baton, especially as the badge of command, sceptre: in [[ 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus ] Refs 8th c.BC+] borne by kings and chiefs, and transmitted from father to son (whence [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.101 ff. is called ἡ τοῦ σκήπτρου παράδοσις, 5th c.BC: Thucydides Historicus 1.9), 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 9.156, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 11.569 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]: also borne by heralds, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 7.277, +others] Refs 8th c.BC+]; by speakers, who on rising to speak received it from the herald, [[ 1.234, 18.505, 23.568, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 2.37 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; by priests and soothsayers, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 1.15, 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Agamemnon” 1265 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; later by minstrels, first in [[ 8th-7th c.BC: Hesiodus Epicus “Theogonia” 30; σ. χρύσεον 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 1.15, 2.268, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 11.91, 569 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; wrought by Hephaestus, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.101; χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμένον 1.245. In oaths or protests it was held up, the gods being called to witness, [prev. work] 234, 7.412, 10.321, 328 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁ δ᾽ ὅρκος ἦν τοῦ σ. ἐπανάτασις [[ 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “Politica” 1285b12 ] Refs 4th c.BC+]; used as a stick or cudgel to punish the refractory, [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 2.199, 265, 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “O.” 7.28, 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 811. ] Refs 8th c.BC+]