|
This goes back to the classic "ritual prostitution" or "temple prostitution" in archaeology. Herodotus (sometimes called the Father of Lies and other times called the First Historian) reported that in Babylon every woman had to go to the temple of Ishtar/Astarte once in her life and sleep with a stranger, accepting whatever payment he offered and which she would donate to the temple. A twist on this was that young women with no sexual experience would do the same thing just prior to their weddings, thereby making sure that their spouses did not incur any negative magical penalties for sleeping with virgins. If I'm remembering my Herodotus correctly he also indicated that some temples had a regular staff of priestesses who would have sex with worshipers in order to bring them closer to the gods. The temple of Aphrodite at Corinth was also supposed to have ritual prostitutes (as well as the first coin operated vending machine - you put in a coin (obol I think) and received perfumed water).
My specialty is Egyptian history, not Middle Eastern, but certain temples do seem to have had priestesses (called "qadishtu" or 'holy one") whose specific jobs were to embody the Goddess, make love to Her (male) worshipers. It was, as they say, a religious experience. In Mesopotamian and Canaanite law codes, the qadistu had specific rights, some with respect to dowries and marriage.
In Hebrew the word qadishtu became something along the lines (paleo Hebrew is not anything I ever studied)of kaddeshtu and was translated in the Bible as temple prostitute or sacred prostitute. The OT of course railed against it.
There is some evidence for male prostitutes as well, although whether for same sex worshipers or female worshipers is not immediately clear.
|