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Search results for sigma,719 in Adler number:
Headword:
*skutali/des
Adler number: sigma,719
Translated headword: skytalides, scytalides
Vetting Status: high
Translation: Fire-bearing constructions. Things like this were small wooden rods, some a foot [sc. long], some a cubit; but all were surface-touching[1] in their constructions. These had been divided with iron spurs at the heads; through the spurs had been woven oakum and torches, and pitch had been smeared over them. Some of the men grasped [these] and delivered them [sc. by hand], while others were throwing them from a torsion-spring towards the first of the houses; as they struck their targets with force and the spurs dug into the planking, the fire kept going and swiftly kindled.
Greek Original:*skutali/des: purobo/la e)rgalei=a. h)=san de\ toiau=ta skuta/lia cu/lina, ta\ me\n podiai=a, ta\ de\ phxuai=a: pa/nta de\ tai=s kataskeuai=s h)=san a)kroqigh=. tau=ta ke/ntrois sidhroi=s diei/lhpto ta\s kefala/s: dia\ de\ tw=n kentrw=n diepe/plekto sti/ppuon kai\ da=|des, kata\ de\ tw=n au)tw=n pi/tta kateke/xuto. kai\ oi( me\n a)nedi/dosan e)na/ptontes, oi( de\ e)/ballon a)po\ to/nou tau=ta pro\s ta\s prw/tas oi)ki/as: w(=n prospipto/ntwn meta\ bi/as kai\ tw=n ke/ntrwn tai=s sani/si phgnume/nwn, prose/mene to\ pu=r kai\ taxe/ws h)=|qe.
Notes:
This fascinating entry is the only attested illustration of sense 6 ('engine for hurling fire') in LSJ s.v. skytalis. Its source, apparently an historiographical account, is indeterminable; so too, therefore, is the period and context.
[1] The adjective transmitted is a)kroqigh=; but Bernhardy's a)kroqhgh=, "sharpened at the point", makes better sense.
Keywords: definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; military affairs; science and technology; trade and manufacture
Translated by: David Whitehead on 2 April 2008@09:46:04.
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