Classical mythology Classical mythology, also known as Greco-Roman mythology or Greek and Roman mythology, is the collective body and study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. Mythology, along with philosophy and political thought, is one of the m ...

, Dolus () is a figure who appears in an Aesopic fable by the Roman fabulist Gaius Julius Phaedrus, where he is an apprentice of the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

. According to the Roman mythographer

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

, Dolus was the offspring of Aether and

Terra Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scient ...

(Earth), while Cicero has Dolus being the offspring of Aether and Dies (Day).

''Prometheus and Guile''

Dolus appears as a character in one of the Aesopic fables (number 535 in the

Perry Index The Perry Index is a widely used index of "Aesop's Fables" or "Aesopica", the fables credited to Aesop, the storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC. The index was created by Ben Edwin Perry, a professor of classics at the U ...

), by the Roman poet and fabulist Gaius Julius Phaedrus, titled ''Prometheus and Guile'' (''Prometheus et Dolus''), subtitled ''On Truth and Falsehood'' (''De veritate et mendacio'').Perry 535
pp. 376–379

(p. 244). In Phaedrus's fable, Prometheus appears as a sculptor in clay who can bring to life the figures he creates. Having just made a sculpture of Truth, he is called away by

Jove Jupiter ( or , from Proto-Italic "day, sky" + "father", thus "sky father" Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς), also known as Jove ( nom. and gen. ), is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mytholog ...

, leaving his workshop in the hands of his apprentice Dolus. Out of sense of rivalry, Dolus fashions an exact duplicate of Prometheus's Truth, except for the fact that, because he has run out of clay, Dolus' figure has no feet. When Prometheus returns he marvels at Dolus's work, and wishing to take credit for the amazing skill required to make so exact a duplicate, he fires both clay figures in his kiln. When both figures come to life, Prometheus' Truth walks gracefully forward, while Dolus's figure stands fixed unable to walk. Ever after Dolus's figure was called Falsehood. In closing the fabulist says that when people say that Falsehood has no feet, he agrees, adding the moral (similar to the idiom "the truth will out"):

Notes

References

* Cicero, Marcus Tullius, ''

De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

'' in ''Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. Academics'', translated by H. Rackham,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 268, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, first published 1933, revised 1951.
Online version at Harvard University Press Internet Archive
* Gibbs, Laura, ''Aesop's Fables'', translation by Laura Gibbs, Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2008. . * Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''

Fabulae The ''Fabulae'' is a Latin handbook of mythology, attributed to an author named Hyginus, who is generally believed to have been separate from Gaius Julius Hyginus. The work consists of some three hundred very brief and plainly, even crudely, told ...

'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. . * Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''

'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960
Online version at ToposText
* Meissel, Franz-Stefan, s.v. Dolus in ''

Brill’s New Pauly The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler August Pauly. Other encyclopedias in t ...

'', Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry
Online version
* ''The Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary'', edited by James Morwood,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1994. . * Perry, Ben Edwin, ''Babrius, Phaedrus. Fables.'', translated by Ben Edwin Perry,

No. 436, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

, 1965. {{ISBN, 978-0-674-99480-5
Online version at Harvard University Press
Mythological characters

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...