Bible Lexicons

For δόλος in the forensic sense, as Deuteronomy 27:24, cf. the Jewish prayer for vengeance from Rheneia, Syll 816.3 (ii/i B.C.) ἐπὶ τοὺς δόλωι φονεύσαντας : see Deissmann LAE, p. 423 ff. Cf. the compound δολοφονέω, BGU II. 388 i. 23 (ii/iii A.D.), Syll 324.19 (i/B.C.). In BGU I. 326 ii. 8 (a will—A.D. 189) we find ταύτῃ τῇ διαθήκῃ δόλος πονηρὸς ἀπέστη (? = ἀπέστω). Mommsen (Sitzungsberichte der Akad. zu Berlin, phil.-hist. Klasse, 18 Jan. 1894, p. 50) states that he has not met the phrase elsewhere in this connexion, and compares the common formula on graves, ab hoc monumento dolus malus abesto. A much earlier instance of δόλος πονηρός is Syll 319.9 (ii/B.C.) μήτε να [υσὶν βοηθείτωσαν δημοσ ]ίαι βουλῇ μετὰ δόλου πονηροῦ : cf. OGIS 629.112 (A.D. 137) χωρὶ [ς ] δόλου πο [νηροῦ, PSI III. 158.47 (astrological—? iii/A.D.) διὰ μετεωρισμῶν καὶ κακῶν ̣ [δόλ ]ων. The first of these inscriptions is about contemporaneous with the famous Oscan Tabula Bantina, where perum dolom mallom recurs (with other parts of the noun), representing sine dolo malo. In view of the fixity of the formula in Italy from the beginning of our records, we can hardly doubt that it was transferred to Greek from Italic : it is noteworthy that Syll 319 was obviously Latin in phrase before it took Greek form. The meaning ";taint,"; of material things, which gives us ἄδολος as described sub voce, appears in the formula for χρυσοῦ δόλος in the chemical papyrus P Leid X iii. 10 (iii/A.D.). So ib. ix. 18 f. in a test (δοκιμασία) for unstamped silver (see under ἄσημος) : ἄσημον ἐπιγνῶναι εἰ δόλον ἔχει · κατάθου εἰς ἅλμην, θέρμν (l. θέρμαινε), ἐὰν δόλον ἔχῃ μέλαν γείνεται. Add Vettius Valens, p. 73.11 ἐξ ὀνειδισμῶν καὶ ἐνέδρας καὶ δόλου καὶ ἐπιθέσεως ἀναγομένους. The word is MGr.