The sceptre probably has its origins in the shepherd's staff or crook, which was a symbol of authority in nomadic/pastoral peoples. Paintings from ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia and Parthia depict monarchs holding a crook-like sceptre. The Mahavamsa from ancient Sri Lanka describes a yatthi, a staff that was a symbol of sovereignty of their kings. S. Paranavitana wrote that "We may conjecture that at that early age, when a chief assumed the sovereign power of the state, those interested saw to it that the wonder-working rods of authority duly appeared to overawe a credulous multitude".

Homer depicted the skeptron, a staff that was a symbol of rank, carried by chiefs, and transmitted from father to son. In ancient Israel the Judges held a long wooden staff as a symbol of honour and the priests possessed a sacred rod. In medieval England the king's sceptre was occasionally called the Rod of Aaron and its association with biblical Israel gave the English sceptre the symbolism of judicial authority vested in the monarch.

Sources:

*Brian Barker, The Symbols of Sovereignty (1979). *S. Paranavitana, 'Two Royal Titles of the Early Sinhalese, and the Origin of Kingship in Ancient Ceylon', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 454-455.