ῤαβδοῦχος, ῥαβδουχου, ὁ (ῤάβδος and ἔχω; cf. εὐνοῦχος), one who carries the rods i. e. the fasces, a lictor (a public officer who bore the fasces or staff and other insignia of office before the magistrates) (A. V. serjeants): Act_16:35; Act_16:38. (Polybius; Diodorus 5, 40; Dionysius Halicarnassus; Herodian, 7, 8, 10 (5 edition, Bekker); διά τί λικτωρεις τούς ῤαβδούχους ὀνομαζουσι; Plutarch, quaest. Rom c. 67.)

ῥαβδοῦχος rhabdouchos 2x the bearer of a wand of office; a lictor, sergeant, a public servant who bore a bundle or rods before the magistrates as insignia of their office, and carried into execution the sentences they pronounced, Act_16:35 ; Act_16:38

*ῥαβδοῦχος , -ου , ό ( < ῥαβδος , ἔχω ), one who carries a rod or staff of office; (a) an umpire or judge ( Plat .); (b) in late writers, a Roman lictor: Act_16:38 .†

ῥαβδοῦχος [page 562] lit. a rod-holder, is supplied by Wilcken in P Par 24 .6 (B.C. 164) (= UPZ i. p. 123) τῶν δ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ῥαβδο [ῦχός τις Ζωίλος , with reference to a temple-attendant in the Serapeum at Memphis. For this usage (as distinguished from a lictor or attendant on Roman magistrates, as in Act_16:35 ; Act_16:38 ) he refers to a ῥαβδοῦχος in the Roman Serapis worship in IG XIV. 1027, and to the ῥαβδοῦχοι in the temple service of Apollo in Syll 790 (= .3 1157) .24 ( c . B.C. 100 ?) whose duty is to keep in order the temple precincts οἳ καὶ ἐχέτωσαν ἐξουσίαν κωλύειν τὸν ἀκοσμοῦντα . In P Oxy XIV. 1626 .9 (A.D. 325) the reference is again to an official of low rank who fills the single post of ῥαβδοῦχος of certain animals χώραν μίαν ῥαβδούχου ἑνὸς τῶν αὐτῶν ζῷων : see the editors note, and cf. ib . 1750 .12 (A.D. 306) and ib . XVI. 1905 .16 (iv/v A.D.). Cf. the word ῥαβδοφόρος in P Petr II. 8(2) ( c ) .9 (B.C. 246) and P Par 66 .18 (iii/B.C.). In the latter case the editor suggests that ῥαβδοφόροι , may not be more than conductors of works, but for the possibility that police were intended see Archiv vi. p. 416. For the subst. ῥαβδουχία cf. P Oxy XVI. 1626 .21 (A.D. 325), and BGU I. 244 .14 (time of Gallienus).

ῥαβδοῦχος ῥαβδ-οῦχος, ὁ, [Etym: ἔχω] "one who carries a rod or staff of office": "a judge, umpire at a contest", Plat. "a magistrate's attendant, a beadle", Ar. :—so, at Rome, "of the lictors who carried the fasces", Polyb. , etc.

ῥαβδοῦχος, -ου, ό (ῥαβδος, ἔχω), one who carries a rod or staff of office; __(a) an umpire or judge (Plat.); __(b) in late writers, a Roman lictor: Act.16:38.† (AS)