Meanings
- alternativehistoricalAlternative form of Scytalism.
The events of the so-called Skytalism, narrated by Diodorus Siculus, constituted unprecidented incidents of violence...
2024, Vassilios P. Vertoudakis, "Fake News and Misinformation during War or Civil Conflict...", Fake News in Ancient Greece..., pp. 213 ff.2 more examples
But the city where intestine commotion took place in its most violent form was Argos... This gloomy series of events was termed the Skytalism, or Cudgelling, from the instrument (as we are told) by which these multiplied executions were consummated; though the name seems more to indicate an impetuous popular insurrection than deliberate executions... We are told that the assembled Athenian people, when they heard the news of the Skytalism at Argos, were so shocked at it, that they caused the solemnity of purification to be performed round the assembly.
1852, George Grote, History of Greece, Vol. X, pp. 425–6‘Skytalism’ at Argos... The excitement of the people was inflamed by the harangues of demagogues, and the mob, arming itself with cudgels, commenced a general massacre.
1877, Charles Sankey, The Spartan and Theban Supremacies, page 189
Origin
- Ancient Greekσκυταλισμός“clubbing”
- EnglishSkytalism
From Ancient Greek σκυταλισμός (skutalismós, “clubbing”), from σκυτάλη (skutálē) or σκύταλον (skútalon, “club”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to skytale + -ism.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Skytalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Skytalism
“Skytalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Skytalism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Skytalism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Skytalism.
Source: Skytalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.