ῥάβδουχ-ος G4465
rod-bearers, lictors who carried the fasces and attended Roman magistrates
A title for Roman officials (lictors) who carried rods bundled with an axe (fasces) as symbols of magisterial authority. Both uses are in Acts 16. In verse 35, the Philippian magistrates send the lictors to release Paul and Silas. In verse 38, the lictors report Paul's claim to Roman citizenship, alarming the magistrates. The term is culturally specific—these were attendants who executed punishments and conveyed official orders. Their presence signals Roman legal procedure.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The glosses ('officers,' 'lictores,' 'porteur de faisceaux') identify these Roman officials. Acts 16:35 and 38 both feature the lictors as intermediaries between magistrates and prisoners. Their role is administrative and coercive—they carry out beatings and relay messages. Paul's citizenship claim puts them (and the magistrates) in legal jeopardy, since they had illegally beaten a Roman citizen. 2×
AR["حُرّاسَ", "حُرّاسُ"]·ben["লাঠিধারীদের", "লাঠিধারীরা"]·DE["ῥαβδούχους", "ῥαβδοῦχοι"]·EN["officers"]·FR["porteur-de-faisceaux"]·heb["הַלִּקְטוֹרִים"]·HI["सिपाहियों-को", "सिपाहियों-ने"]·ID["penjaga-penjaga"]·IT["pretore"]·jav["liktor"]·KO["경호원들을", "경호원들이"]·PT["lictores", "lictores,"]·RU["ликторов", "ликторы"]·ES["lictores"]·SW["wachukuaji-fimbo"]·TR["muhafızlar", "muhafızları"]·urd["سپاہیوں"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ῥάβδουχ-ος (properispomenon), ὁ, one who carries a rod or staff of office: __1 judge, umpire at a contest, Refs 5th c.BC+ __2 magistrate's attendant, staff-bearer, beadle, NT+5th c.BC+: especially at Rome, of the lictors who carried the fasces, Refs 2nd c.BC+, female attendants on Oenanthe, mother of Agathocles, Refs