Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”

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Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”

Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”

In the modern world, the mere mention of “Sacred Prostitution” may receive raised eyebrows or disgusted grimaces. Evidently, this was also the case for the ancients as many ancient authors describe sacred prostitution in drastic terms. It was, according to the historian Herodotus, “the ugliest custom” of Babylon. The Greek geographer Strabo maintained that “virgin daughters,” even younger than 12 years of age, were dedicated to cult prostitution. The Old Testament mentions a specific category of people who are considered to have been the “professionals” of sacred prostitution in ancient Israel, with special rooms in the Jerusalem Temple, a state of affairs apparently accepted by the clergy in earlier times.

Statue of Herodotus

Statue of Herodotus (Wienwiki / Walter Maderbacher/CC BY-SA 3.0)

However, academics are now questioning these erotic stories. The strongly worded records regarding temple prostitution has been disputed by equally strong worded arguments. A fraction of researchers even disputes holy prostitution altogether, believing that it all began when a few ancient Greek writers concocted defamatory customs about foreigners as evidence of their moral inferiority. Some scholars, although still questioning some of the opinions of the past, insist that the phenomenon existed to a certain degree— believing that at there were temples in which even young girls held the highest offices of the priesthood and professional prostitutes who donated their own money to cult sites.


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