Scytalismus

S1C3Y4T1A1L1I1S1M3U1S1

A form of Scytalism — The clubbing of wealthy Argives in 370 BC.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

proper noun
  1. alternativehistoricalAlternative form of Scytalism.
    1 more example

    After the subversion of oligarchy in the Peloponnesian war, Argos continued strictly democratic... The licentiousness and aggressions of the demagogy now rose to such a pitch that they roused the wealthier orders to plot against the democracy; but the conspiracy being discovered, the rage of the multitude broke out into the most brutal and infuriated excesses, during which they massacred twelve hundred of the rich and their adherents; this butchery was entitled the Scytalismus (fustuarium). Horrorstruck at this appalling outrage, which seemed to pass in enormity every thing that had gone before, the Athenians caused their market-place to be consecrated, lest they should share with their guilty allies the vengeance of the offended Nemesis.

    1837, Edmund Woolrych translating Ernst Wilhelm Gottlieb Wachsmuth as The Historical Antiquities of the Greeks..., Vol. II, pp. 386–7

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekσκυταλισμός“clubbing”
  2. LatinScytalismus
  3. EnglishScytalismus

From Latin Scytalismus, from Ancient Greek σκυταλισμός (skutalismós, “clubbing”), from σκυτάλη (skutálē) or σκύταλον (skútalon, “club”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Scytalismus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scytalismus

MLA

“Scytalismus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scytalismus. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Scytalismus,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scytalismus.

Source: Scytalismus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.