σπεῖρα

A. anything twisted or wound, ποιεῖν τι οἷον σπεῖραν twist it into a ball, Hp. Morb. 2.33.

2. pl., coils or spires of a serpent, S. Fr. 535 (anap.), Ar. Fr. 500; πολύπλοκοι ς. E. Med. 481, cf. Ion 1164: so in sg., Nic. Th. 156, A.R. 4.151, Arat. 47,89, etc.

3. rope, cord, Nic. Fr. 74.21, f.l. in Hp. Steril. 235; σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις with the net's meshy folds, S. Ant. 346 (lyr.); ship's cable, Plu. 2.507b; padded circle used by women carrying weights on their head, Aët. 12.55; so by Atlas, Apollod. 2.5.11; as a lamp-stand, ἀρτεμισίας ς. ἐπὶ τὸν λύχνον PMag.Lond. 121.601 (cf. σπειρίον 111); round cushion, IG 5(1).1390.24 (Andania, i B.C.).

4. a mode of dressing the hair, Poll. 2.31, 4.149.

5. ς. βόειαι thongs or straps of ox-hide to guard and arm a boxer's fist, Theoc. 22.80.

6. knot or curl in wood, Thphr. HP 5.2.3, Plin. HN 16.198.

7. a kind of cheesecake (al. σπῖρα), Chrysipp. Tyan. ap. Ath. 14.647d.

8. rounded moulding in the base of an Ionic or Corinthian column, torus, IG 12.372.64, Sardis 7(1) No.181 (i A.D.), CIG 2713-14 (Labranda), Poll. 7.121, Vitr. 3.5.3.

9. Geom., anchor-ring, tore, produced by revolution of a circle about a line in its plane but not passing through the centre, Hero *Deff. 97, Procl. in Euc. p.119 F.

II. Milit., tactical unit, in the Ptolemaic army, BGU 1806.4 (i B.C.); used to translate the Roman manipulus, Plb. 11.23.1, al., Str. 12.3.18, Plu. Aem. 17; κατὰ σπείρας,= Lat. manipulatim, Plb. 3.115.12; later, cohort, Act.Ap. 10.1, J. BJ 3.4.2, IGRom. 1.10 (Massilia), 1373 (Egypt), al., OGI 208.2 (Nubia, ii A.D.), al. (gen. in this sense always σπείρης, Act.Ap. l.c., POxy. 477.3 (ii A.D.), BGU 73 (ii A.D.), OGIl.c., etc.).

2. = θίασος, religious college or guild, gen. σπείρης IG 14.925 (Portus Trajani); dat. σπείρῃ ib.977 (Rome), Inscr.Perg. 319,320; nom. σπεῖρα AEM 14.28 (Roumania); Lat. spira, CIL 6.261 (Rome), al. (cf. σπειράρχης).