ἱερόσυλος, ἱερόσυλον (from ἱερόν and συλάω), guilty of sacrilege: Act_19:37 (A. V. robbers of temples; cf. Lightfoot in The Contemp. Rev. for 1878, p. 294f). (2Ma_4:42; Aristophanes, Xenophon, Plato, Polybius, Diodorus, others.)

ἱερόσυλος hierosylos 1x one who despoils temples, commits sacrilege, Act_19:37

** ἱερόσυλος , -ον ( < ἱερόν , συλάω ), [in LXX : 2Ma_4:42 ( cf. -λημα , 2Ma_4:39 ; -λία , 2Ma_13:6 ) * ;] robbing temples: Act_19:37 .†

ἱερόσυλος [page 301] The wider sense, which we have seen the corresponding verb has in Rom_2:22 (see s.v. ἱεροσυλέω ), also attaches to ἱερόσυλος in Act_19:37 (cf. 2Ma_4:42 ), where Ramsay (Hastings DB i. p. 441) understands οὔτε ἱεροσύλους οὔτε βλασφημοῦντας τὴν θεάν as implying guilty neither in act nor in language of disrespect to the established religion of our city : see further CRE .5 p. 260, and Lightfoot Essays on Supernatural Religion , p. 299 f., who cites an inscr. found in this very temple of Ephesus, though of a later date than the passage in Acts, ἔστω ἱεροσυλία καὶ ἀσέβεια , let it be regarded as sacrilege and impiety (Wood Inscr. vi. 1, p. 14). Other exx. of the adj. from the inscrr. are Syll 523 .49 (iii/B.C.) ὁ δὲ εἴ ]πας ἢ [πρήξ ]ας τι παρὰ τόνδε τὸν νόμον . . . ἔστω ἱερόσυλος , ib. 602 .8 (iv/iii B.C.) ἢν δέ τις [τὴν στήλην ] ἀφαν [ίζηι ἢ τὰ γράμματα ], πασχέτω ὡς ἱερόσυλος , and ib. 680 .10 (Rom.). The new Menander shows several exx. of ἱερόσυλε used in abuse with a general sense (cf. horse-thief ) : e.g. Menandrea , p. 60 .333 ἱερ [ό ]συλε παῖ , p. 38 .524 ἱερόσυλε γραῦ .

ἱερόσυλος ἱερό-συ_λος, ὁ, [Etym: συλάω] "a temple-robber, sacrilegious person", Lat. sacrilegus, Ar. , Plat.

ἱερόσυλος, -ον (ἱερόν, συλάω), [in LXX: 2Ma.4:42 (cf. -λημα, 2Ma.4:39; -λία, 2Ma.13:6)* ;] robbing temples: Act.19:37.† (AS)