Editing Sacred prostitution (section)

==Ancient Near East==
[[File:Ishtar vase Louvre AO17000-detail.jpg|100px|thumb|[[Inanna]] depicted wearing the ceremonial [[headdress]] of the [[high priestess]]]]
[[Ancient Near East]]ern societies along the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers featured many shrines and temples or ''houses of heaven'' dedicated to various [[deities]]. The 5th-century BC historian [[Herodotus]]'s account and some other testimony from the [[Hellenistic Period]] and [[Late Antiquity]] suggest that ancient societies encouraged the practice of sacred sexual rites not only in [[Babylonia]] and [[Cyprus]], but throughout the [[Near East]].

The work of gender researchers like Daniel Arnaud,{{sfn|Arnaud|1973|pp=111–115}} Julia Assante{{sfn|Assante|2003}} and Stephanie Budin<ref name="Budin3" /> has cast the whole tradition of scholarship that defined the concept of sacred prostitution into doubt. Budin regards the concept of sacred prostitution as a myth, arguing that the practices described in the sources were misunderstandings of either non-remunerated [[ritual sex]] or non-sexual religious ceremonies, or possibly even invented as rhetorical devices.<ref name="Budin3" />

===Sumer===
Through the twentieth century, scholars generally believed that a form of sacred marriage rite (''[[hieros gamos]]'') was staged between the kings in the ancient Near Eastern region of [[Sumer]] and the high priestesses of [[Inanna]], the [[Mesopotamian mythology|Sumerian goddess]] of sexual love, fertility, and warfare, later called [[Ishtar]]. The king would have sex with the priestess to represent the union of [[Dumuzid, the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] with [[Inanna]].<ref name=Day_2004>{{harvnb|Day|2004|pp=2–21}}</ref> According to the noted Assyriologist [[Samuel Noah Kramer]], the kings would further establish their legitimacy by taking part in a ritual sexual act in the temple of the fertility goddess Ishtar every year on the tenth day of the New Year festival [[Akitu]].{{sfn|Kramer|1969}}

However, no certain evidence has survived to prove that sexual intercourse was included, despite many popular descriptions of the habit.{{sfn|Frazer|1922|loc=[[s:The Golden Bough/Adonis in Cyprus|Chapter 31: Adonis in Cyprus]]}} It is possible that these unions never occurred but were embellishments to the image of the king; hymns which praise Ancient Near Eastern kings for coupling with the goddess [[Ishtar]] often speak of them as running {{convert|320|km|abbr=on}}, offering sacrifices, feasting with the sun-god [[Utu]], and receiving a royal crown from [[Anu|An]], all in a single day.{{sfn|Sweet|1994|pp=85–104}} Some modern historians argue in the same direction,<ref name="Budin3" />{{sfn|Assante|2003|pp=13–47}}{{sfn|Yamauchi|1973|pp=213–222}} though their posture has been disputed.<ref name=Day_2004 />

===Babylonia===
According to [[Herodotus]], the rites performed at these temples included sexual intercourse, or what scholars later called sacred sexual rites:

{{blockquote|The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of [[Aphrodite]] ([[Ishtar]]) and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, "I invite you in the name of [[Mylitta]]".  It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus.{{sfn|Herodotus|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+1.199 vol.1 p.199]}}}}

The British anthropologist [[James Frazer]] accumulated citations to prove this in a chapter of his magnum opus ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' (1890–1915),<ref>{{harvnb|Frazer|1922|loc=abridged ed. [[s:The Golden Bough/Adonis in Cyprus|Chapter 31: Adonis in Cyprus]]}}; see also the more extensive treatment {{harvnb|Frazer|1914|loc=3rd ed. volumes 5 and 6}}. Frazer's argument and citations are reproduced in slightly clearer fashion by {{harvnb|Henriques|1961|loc=vol. I, ch. 1}}</ref> and this has served as a starting point for several generations of scholars. Frazer and Henriques distinguished two major forms of sacred sexual rites: temporary rite of unwed girls (with variants such as dowry-sexual rite, or as public [[defloration]] of a bride), and lifelong sexual rite.{{sfn|Henriques|1961|loc=vol. I, ch. 1}} However, Frazer took his sources mostly from authors of [[Late Antiquity]] (i.e. 150–500 AD), not from the Classical or [[Hellenistic period]]s.<ref>[[Herodotus]] and [[Strabo]] are the only sources mentioned by Frazer that were active prior to the 2nd century AD; his other sources include [[Deipnosophistae|Athenaeus]], [[De Dea Syria|pseudo-Lucian]], [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], and the Christian church historians [[Sozomen]] and [[Socrates of Constantinople]].</ref> This raises questions as to whether the phenomenon of temple sexual rites can be generalised to the whole of the ancient world, as earlier scholars typically did.

In [[code of Hammurabi|Hammurabi's code of laws]], the rights and good name of female sacred sexual priestesses were protected. The same legislation that protected married women from slander applied to them and their children. They could inherit property from their fathers, collect income from land worked by their brothers, and dispose of property. These rights have been described as extraordinary, taking into account the role of women at the time.{{sfn|Qualls-Corbett|1988|p=37}}

===Terms associated with temple prostitution in Sumer and Babylonia===
All translations are sourced from the [[Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=University of Pennsylvania |title=Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary |url=http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/nepsd-frame.html |website=Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=5 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605041059/http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/nepsd-frame.html |url-status=live }}</ref>  Akkadian terms were used in the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia.  The terms themselves come from lexical profession lists on tablets dating back to the Early Dynastic period.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Sumerian !! Akkadian !! Signs !! Cuneiform
|-
| Abbess || nin-diĝir || ''ēntu'' || SAL.TUG<sub>2</sub>.AN || 𒊩𒌆𒀭
|-
| Priestess || lukur || ''nadītu'' || SAL.ME || 𒊩𒈨
|-
| Nun || nugig || ''qadištu'' || NU.GIG || 𒉡𒍼
|-
| Hierodule Priestess || nubar || ''kulmašītu'' || NU.BAR || 𒉡𒁇
|-
| Cult Prostitute || amalu || ''ištaru'' || GA<sub>2</sub>×AN.LUL || 𒂼𒈜
|-
| A Class of Women || sekrum || ''sekretu'' || ZI.IG.AŠ || 𒍣𒅅𒀸
|-
| Prostitute || <sup>geme<sub>2</sub></sup>karkid || ''harīmtu'' || <sup>SAL×KUR</sup>TE.A.KID || 𒊩𒆳𒋼𒀀𒆤
|-
| Prostitute (EDIIIb) || <sup>geme<sub>2</sub></sup>karkid || ''harīmtu'' || <sup>SAL×KUR</sup>TE.A.AK || 𒊩𒆳𒋼𒀀𒀝
|}
Notes on the [[cuneiform]]: by convention Akkadian is italicised, spoken Sumerian is lowercase and cuneiform sign transliteration is uppercase.  In addition, a [[determinative]] sign is written as a superscript.  Determinatives are only written and never spoken.  In spoken Sumerian [[homophones]] are distinguished by a numerical subscript.

===Hittites===
The [[Hittites]] practiced sacred prostitution as part of a cult of deities, including the worship of a mated pair of deities, a bull god and a lion goddess, while in later days it was the mother-goddess who became prominent, representing fertility, and (in Phoenicia) the goddess who presided over human birth.{{sfn|Singh|1997|p=6}}

===Phoenicia===
It has been argued that sacred prostitution, worked by both males and females, was a custom of ancient [[Phoenicians]].<ref name=Sai/><ref>{{Cite web|title = Las mujeres en la religión fenicio-púnica|url = https://archivoshistoria.com/las-mujeres-en-la-religion-fenicio-punica/|date = 2 November 2018|access-date = 28 June 2022|first = Christian|last = San José Campos|publisher = Archivos Historia|language = Spanish|archive-date = 2 July 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220702120306/https://archivoshistoria.com/las-mujeres-en-la-religion-fenicio-punica/|url-status = live}}</ref> It would be dedicated to the deities [[Astarte]] and [[Adonis]], and sometimes performed as a festival or social rite in the cities of [[Byblos]], [[Afqa]] and [[Baalbek]] (later named [[Heliopolis (Lebanon)|Heliopolis]])<ref name=Mone/> as well as the nearby Syrian city of [[Palmyra]].<ref name=Sai/>
[[File:Centro_de_Interpretación_del_Yacimiento_de_Cancho_Roano._Paneles_informativos_I_06.jpg|thumb|Complex of [[Cancho Roano]], [[Spain]], a proposed place of temple prostitution]]
At the Etruscan site of [[Pyrgi]], a center of worship of the eastern goddess [[Astarte]], archaeologists identified a temple consecrated to her and built with at least 17 small rooms that may have served as quarters for temple prostitutes.<ref name=St>Biblical Archaeology Society Staff, [https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/sacred-prostitution-in-the-story-of-judah-and-tamar/ Sacred Prostitution in the Story of Judah and Tamar?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716134256/https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/sacred-prostitution-in-the-story-of-judah-and-tamar/ |date=16 July 2019 }}, 7 August 2018</ref> Similarly, a temple dedicated to her equated goddess [[Atargatis]] in [[Dura-Europos]], was found with nearly a dozen small rooms with low benches, which might have used either for sacred meals or sacred services of women jailed in the temple for adultery.<ref name=St/><ref name=Lipinski2013>{{harvnb|Lipiński|2013|pp=9–27}}</ref> Pyrgi's sacred prostitutes were famous enough to be apparently mentioned in a lost fragment of [[Gaius Lucilius|Lucilius]]'s works.<ref name=PuGa>Ana María Jiménez Flores, ''Cultos fenicio-púnicos de Gádir: Prostitución sagrada y Puella Gaditanae'', 2001. Habis 32. [[Universidad de Sevilla]].</ref>

In northern Africa, the area of influence of the Phoenician colony of [[Carthage]], this service was associated to the city of [[Sicca Veneria|Sicca]], a nearby city that received the name of ''Sicca Veneria'' for its temple of [[Astarte]] or [[Tanit]] (called [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] by Roman authors).<ref name=PuGa/> [[Valerius Maximus]] describes how their women gained gifts by engaging in prostitution with visitors.<ref>[[Valerius Maximus]], ''Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri novem'', II. 6.15</ref>

Phoenicio-Punic settlements in [[Hispania]], like [[Cancho Roano]], [[Gadir]], [[Castulo]] and La Quéjola, have suggested this practice through their archaeology and iconography. In particular, Cancho Roano features a sanctuary built with multiple cells or rooms, which has been identified as a possible place of sacred prostitution in honor to Astarte.<ref name=Mone>Teresa Moneo, ''Religio iberica: santuarios, ritos y divinidades (siglos VII-I A.C.)'', 2003, Real Academia de la Historia, {{ISBN|9788495983213}}</ref> A similar institution might have been found in Gadir. Its posterior, renowned erotic dancers called ''[[puellae gaditanae]]'' in Roman sources (or ''cinaedi'' in the case of male dancers) might have been desecrated heirs of this practice, considering the role occupied by sex and dance on Phoenician culture.<ref name=Sai>José María Blázquez Martínez, ''La diosa de Chipre'', Real Academia de la Historia. Saitabi. Revista de la Facultat de Geografia i Història, 62-63 (2012-2013), pp. 39-50</ref><ref name=PuGa/><ref name=Euro>Guadalupe López Monteagudo, María Pilar San Nicolás Pedraz, ''Astarté-Europa en la península ibérica - Un ejemplo de interpretatio romana'', Complurum Extra, 6(I), 1996: 451-470</ref>

Another center of cult to Astarte was [[Cyprus]], whose main temples were located in [[Paphos]], [[Amathus]] and [[Kition]].<ref name=Mone/> The epigraphy of the Kition temple describes personal economic activity on the temple, as sacred prostitution would have been taxed as any other occupation, and names possible practitioners as ''grm'' (male) and ''lmt'' (female).<ref name=PuGa/><ref>Julio González Alcalde, ''Simbología de la diosa Tanit en representaciones cerámicas ibéricas'', Quad. Preh. Arq. Cast. 18, 1997</ref>

===Ancient Israel===
The [[Hebrew Bible]] uses two different words for prostitute, ''zonah'' (זונה)&lrm;<ref name="zanah">Associated with the corresponding verb ''zanah''.{{cite web|title=Genesis 1:1 (KJV)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h2181|website=[[Blue Letter Bible]]|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117060240/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h2181|url-status=live}} incorporating [[Strong's concordance]] (1890) and [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]]'s Lexicon (1857). Also transliterated ''qĕdeshah'', ''q<sup>e</sup>deshah'', ''qědēšā'' ,''qedashah'', ''kadeshah'', ''kadesha'', ''qedesha'', ''kdesha''. A modern liturgical pronunciation would be ''k'deysha''.</ref> and ''kedeshah'' (or ''qedesha'') (קדשה)&lrm;.<ref name="zanah" /> The word ''zonah'' simply meant an ordinary prostitute or ''loose woman''.<ref name="zanah" /> But the word ''kedeshah'' literally means ''set apart'' (in feminine form), from the Semitic root ''[[Q-D-Sh]]'' (קדש)&lrm; meaning ''holy'', ''consecrated'' or ''set apart''.<ref name="zanah" /> Nevertheless, ''zonah'' and ''qedeshah'' are not interchangeable terms: the former occurs 93 times in the Bible,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lexicon results for ''zanah'' (Strong's H2181)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h2181|website=[[Blue Letter Bible]]|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117060240/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h2181|url-status=dead}}</ref> whereas the latter is only used in three places,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lexicon results for ''qĕdeshah'' (Strong's H6948)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h6948|website=[[Blue Letter Bible]]|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-date=29 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175407/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h6948|url-status=dead}} incorporating [[Strong's concordance]] (1890) and [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]]'s Lexicon (1857).</ref> conveying different connotations.

This double meaning has led to the belief that ''kedeshah'' were not ordinary prostitutes, but sacred harlots who worked out of fertility temples.<ref name="Oxfordqedeshah">{{harvnb|Grossman et al|2011|p=596}}</ref> However, the lack of solid evidence{{sfn|Yamauchi|1973|pp=213–222}}{{sfn|Kamionkowski|2003|pp=21–22}}{{sfn|Westenholz|1989|pp=245–265}} has indicated that the word might refer to prostitutes who offered their services in the vicinity of temples, where they could attract a larger number of clients.<ref name="Oxfordqedeshah" /> The term might have originated as consecrated maidens employed in Canaanite and Phoenician temples, which became synonymous with harlotry for Biblical writers.<ref name=Lipinski2013/>{{sfn|Bird|2020|pp=6, 13}}

In any case, the translation of sacred prostitute has continued, however, because it explains how the word can mean such disparate concepts as ''sacred'' and ''prostitute''.<ref name="DeGrado">{{harvnb|DeGrado|2018}}</ref> As put by DeGrado, "neither the interpretation of the קדשה as a 'priestess-not-prostitute' (according to Westenholz) nor as a 'prostitute-not-priestess' (according to Gruber) adequately represents the semantic range of Hebrew word in biblical and post-biblical Hebrew."<ref name="DeGrado"/>

Male prostitutes were called ''kadesh'' or ''qadesh'' (literally: male who is ''set apart'').{{sfn|Gruber|1986|pp=133–148}} The Hebrew word ''keleb'' (dog) may also signify a male dancer or prostitute.<ref>[https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h3611 Lexicon results for ''kelev'' (Strong's H3611)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142953/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h3611 |date=12 June 2018 }}, incorporating [[Strong's Concordance]] (1890) and [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]]'s Lexicon (1857).</ref>

The [[Mosaic Law]] as outlined in the [[Book of Deuteronomy]] was not universally observed in [[Israelite]] culture under the [[Davidic line]] in the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]], as recorded in the [[Books of Kings]].  According to 2 Kings 22, the [[Kingdom of Judah]] had lost "the Book of the Law". During the reign of King [[Josiah]], [[Hilkiah]], the [[High Priest of Israel]], discovered it in "[[Solomon's Temple|the House of the Lord]]" and realized that the people have disobeyed, particularly regarding prostitution.<ref>2 Kings 22:8</ref>{{sfn|Sweeney|2001|p=137}}