sacred prostitution

   A Mesopotamian religious custom reported by several ancient Greek writers in which, supposedly, young women had sexual relations with male strangers inside temples of Ishtar (Inanna), goddess of love and sexual passion. Herodotus describes sacred prostitution, also called cultic prostitution, this way:

   There is one custom among these people which is wholly shameful. Every woman who is a native of the country must once in her life go and sit in the temple of [Ishtar] and there give herself to a strange man. Many of the rich women, who are too proud to mix with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages with a whole host of servants following behind, and there wait. Most, however, sit in the precinct [sanctuary, or holy grounds] of the temple with a band of plaited string round their heads - and a great crowd they are, what with some sitting there, others arriving, others going away - and through them all gangways are marked off running in every direction for the men to pass along and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her seat, she is not allowed to go home until a man has thrown a silver coin into her lap and taken her outside to lie with her. As he throws the coin, the man has to say, "In the name of the goddess [Ish-tar]." The value of the coin is of no consequence. Once thrown, it becomes sacred, and the law forbids that it should ever be refused. The woman has no privilege of choice. She must go with the first man who throws her the money. When she has lain with him, her duty to the goddess is discharged and she may go home. . . . Tall, handsome women soon manage to get home again, but the ugly ones stay a long time before they can fulfill the condition which the law demands, some of them indeed, as much as three or four years. (Histories 1.199)

   Modern scholars differ over how much of this account should be taken seriously. First, no ancient Mesopotamian sources make any mention of sacred prostitution; only Greek sources of the late first millennium b.c. and early millennium a.d., including the geographer Strabo and satirist Lucian, do so. Also, the idea of every young woman in the country being forced to have sex in the temple is far-fetched and sounds like a traveler's tale. Some scholars think that some form of sexual relations may have been part of the fertility rituals in Ishtar's temples. But if so, they say, it was likely confined to a few special priestesses. And in any case, if the act was part of the sacred rituals, it would probably not be accurate to call it prostitution.

   See also: Inanna; religion; temples