Sacred prostitution

Lore & Background

Sacred prostitution has many different characteristics depending on region, class, and religious ideals. Historian Stephanie Budin defines it as the sale of a person’s body for sexual purposes where some portion of the money or goods received belongs to a deity. She references three types in Classical sources: once-in-a-lifetime virginity prostitution to honor a goddess, professional prostitutes owned by a deity's sanctuary, and temporary prostitution before marriage or for certain rituals. The 5th-century BCE historian Herodotus described a custom in Babylonia compelling every woman to sit in the temple of Aphrodite (Ishtar) and have intercourse with a stranger at least once in her life, with the money made sacred.

Reader's Guide

The concept of sacred prostitution has been a subject of significant academic debate. Historically, mainstream historiography considered it a probable reality based on ancient sources, but beginning in the late 20th century, scholars like Daniel Arnaud, Julia Assante, and Stephanie Budin have cast doubt on the tradition.

Budin regards the concept as a myth, arguing that practices described were misunderstandings of non-remunerated ritual sex or non-sexual ceremonies, or possibly invented as rhetorical devices. In Sumer, no certain evidence has survived to prove that sexual intercourse was included in the sacred marriage rite, despite popular descriptions. The work of these gender researchers has challenged the entire scholarly tradition that defined sacred prostitution, leaving its historicity unresolved.

Did You Know?

• In Hammurabi's code, female sacred sexual priestesses had rights protecting their good name, inheritance, and property, similar to married women.
• At the Etruscan site of Pyrgi, a temple to Astarte had at least 17 small rooms that may have served as quarters for temple prostitutes.