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This may be evidence for the existence of sacred prostitution in Mesoamerica, or it may be either confusion, or accusational polemic. The office of Kosmeteira [ ] as its etymology from ["adornment"] Prostitutes Temple City, probably involved the adornment of the cult statue of Artemis as was common in the worship of Greek goddesses.

Sacred prostitution - Wikipedia

How else could Prostitutes Temple City stay in business? What else could bring all that traffic of young men and women some evenings, when bridal Prostitutes Temple City are traditionally closed? Investigate these businesses that are plaguing our city.

Asian Americans accused Walker of racism; he said he merely worried that the bridal shops--which do a large business in rentals Prostitutes Temple City services--generate little sales tax. He lost the April 12 election. Nonetheless, civic leaders said his platform struck a chord, giving public voice to a private concern that has long gnawed at the innards of some residents.

Stachler, a former Temple City businessman, when asked about the bridal shops. Stachler, who raised his family in Temple City and later moved to Arcadia, said of Asian immigrants:. This goddamned town is ruined. All the homeowners are moving out. A man who identified himself only as Bob said the United States should prohibit immigrants from buying property until they become citizens.

The man, whose parents emigrated from Yugoslavia, accused Temple City of being too lenient with Asian immigrants. The rumors are so pervasive that at least one bridal shop owner found herself fending off would-be johns. A car full of young men once pulled up to her store in the middle of the day.

Bridal-shop owners said the suspicions about them illustrate an ignorance of Asia and its customs, where entire city shopping districts are Prostitutes Temple City devoted to one type of business. In Taipei, Taiwan, they said, there is one street lined with 30 or more bridal shops where customers can compare prices and styles. On closer inspection, however, this explanation starts to unravel. To begin with, scholars are now wondering if the phenomenon in the ANE and OT was really cult prostitution as part of fertility rites.

Karel van der Toorn in the Anchor Bible Dictionaryfor instance, reports: "In recent years, however, the widely accepted hypothesis of Prostitutes Temple City prostitution has been seriously challenged.

Various scholars have argued that the current view rests on unwarranted assumptions, doubtful anthropological premises, and very little evidence. In this light, we are justified in asking for a re-examination of the issue of cult prostitution in the NT world as well. If the supposed ANE and OT ancestry of fertility cult prostitution has been called into question, might not the Greco-Roman derivative have "unwarranted Prostitutes Temple City, doubtful anthropological premises, and very little evidence" as well?

It is worth noting that the Anchor Bible Dictionary where van der Toorn wrote has no discussion of either cultic or secular prostitution in the NT Prostitutes Temple City. Perhaps the editors could not find enough material for an article?

But to take on the question of cult prostitution in the whole Greco-Roman world might appear to be far too broad of a question Prostitutes Temple City a single essay. With this in mind I will aim here for a more humble goal: to survey and to briefly consider the only ancient evidence commonly cited for the existence of cult prostitution in the Greek world.

No one posits cult prostitution in Rome or Italy, so we will not discuss it directly. Our conclusion will be that cult prostitution did not exist in Ephesus, and hopefully the implication that it did Prostitutes Temple City correspondingly exist in other Greek Prostitutes Temple City will also at least be suggested if not definitively proven.

To prove the existence of something requires only that one invoke credible ancient sources properly interpreted. This is a relatively easy task which does not always require detailed knowledge of the sources. However, to prove the non-existence of something in antiquity requires direct and intimate familiarity with ancient people and societies and with ancient sources. It does not satisfy the skeptical reader to simply point out that no ancient sources exist which attest to the practice in that place or in that time.

For this reason, I am providing some relevant material in translation to help the reader get some sense of what the priestesses of ancient Ephesus were actually like. Before going further, let us define cult prostitution. It can be defined narrowly as union with a prostitute whether with a female or a male makes no difference for exchange of money or goods, which was sanctioned by the wardens of a deity whether in temple precincts or elsewhere as a sacred act of worship.

In such cases, the prostitute had semi-official status as a cult functionary, either on a permanent or temporary basis, and the sexual union is usually interpreted to have been Prostitutes Temple City of a fertility ritual. More generally, cult prostitution could simply refer to acts of prostitution where the money or goods received went Prostitutes Temple City a temple and to its administrators.

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Let it be underlined that we are not here discussing erotic symbolism or even possible sexual acts connected to mystery Prostitutes Temple City or fertility cults. Rather, a mystery initiate Prostitutes Temple City some symbolic act in company with other initiates, perhaps even with his or her spouse Plutarch, Mor. For this reason, we will not be dealing with cult sexual symbolism in the pagan world of the NT era.

This is simply another issue. The source most often used to substantiate Greek cult prostitution in the NT era is a statement in the Greek travel-writer, Strabo ca.

TEMPLE PROSTITUTION IN 1 CORINTHIANS by BRIAN S. ROSNER Aberdeen 1 Cor. is widely acknowledged to be one of the most difficult passages in the Pauline corpus. Commentators have described the para-graph as "disjointed," "obscure," "unfinished,"' "imprecise," "extrava-gant," and even "incoherent."2 Gordon Fee notes with. Prostitutes Temple City I'm Prostitutes Temple City a slender brunette, 5'6", 32F I have long, shiny black hair, piercing eyes, a mischievous smile and a toned smartnpo.com will find me to be charming, affectionate and relaxed in my skin. I am educated, well /10().

He writes: "And the Prostitutes Temple City of Aphrodite [in Corinth] was so rich that it owned more than a thousand temple-slaves, courtesans hetairaiwhom Prostitutes Temple City women and men had dedicated to the goddess. And therefore it was also on account of these women that the city was crowded with people and grew rich" 8. One can clearly hear echoes of Strabo's statement in the quote from Everett Ferguson above.

Ferguson does reference Strabo in a footnote here as his only source as follows: "Strabo 8. As with writers ancient and modern, Strabo is not immune to critical evaluation as an historical source. For instance, in the Oxford Classical DictionaryNicholas Purcell writes that "in searching for detailed information Prostitutes Temple City retails long passages of by then out-of-date description, which can make the interpretation of his evidence very hazardous.

There are further reasons to question this source. Strabo in the passage in question 8. Note that in Strabo's statement, he refers to the phenomenon Prostitutes Temple City something in the past: "The temple of Aphrodite was so wealthy that it owned more than a thousand slaves as prostitutes who had been devoted. Pausanias 2. If we ask what exactly Strabo was referring to Prostitutes Temple City ancient Corinth, we would be hard pressed to fit the prostitution so described as fitting our narrow definition of cult prostitution.

He states that the temple of Aphrodite owned slave-prostitutes whom both men and women had devoted to the goddess. Strabo does not say that the hetairai conducted their transactions on sacred property nor that their trade was considered to be part of mystical or sacred rites.

The hetairai - again, granting that Strabo reports an historical phenomenon - would have been slaves owned by the temple as a monetary resource to Prostitutes Temple City the temple and the city. This was not a part of any ritual activity.

Furthermore, some scholars believe that the act of devoting the hetairai to the goddess here may only be a reference to fictive purchase of their freedom by the deity - hence it may not have been cult prostitution at all in even the broadest possible sense. And even if we were to accept Strabo's testimony that Corinth did have cult prostitution in the seventh century BC - which cannot be automatically granted - there is good reason to have serious Prostitutes Temple City that it Prostitutes Temple City into the first century AD.

Devadasis

Strabo 8. Hence, as David Gill observes, "It is right for both classical archaeologists and New Testament scholars to stress Prostitutes Temple City Roman nature of the city which was visited. What this means for us is a presumption that the cult practices of ancient Greek Corinth had been radically altered by the Romanitas of its new population.

And this is what Pausanias reports: "Since the Romans devastated Corinth and the ancient Corinthians perished, the old local sacrifices are no longer a tradition" 2. In his own critique of Corinthian cult prostitution from this passage in Strabo, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor adds this point: "Were Strabo correct, Corinth would be unique Prostitutes Temple City the cities of Greece.

Sacred prostitution was Prostitutes Temple City a Greek custom and, were Corinth an exception, the silence of all other ancient authors becomes impossible to explain. The only author beside Strabo to mention cult prostitution at Corinth is "the somewhat greasy heap Prostitutes Temple City a literary rag-and-bone picker" by name of Athenaeus ca.

AD One of his characters in a symposium discusses the prominence of hetairai in Corinth And indeed it was. Participation in the state cults Prostitutes Temple City any Greek city required one to be a free citizen of that city. There were often severe penalties for participation by outsiders of any sort, and that would include women caught in adultery or hetairai.

The line of interest for cult prostitution in Athenaeus is when his character says, "Even private citizens [of Corinth] vow to the goddess [Aphrodite] that, if those things for which they make petition are fulfilled, they will even render courtesans hetairai to her" It is not exactly clear what "rendering" ajpavge a hetaira entails.

It could mean the sale of the slave and rendering the money to the temple. Or it could mean the sale of the hetaira to the temple itself manumission through fictive divine ownership?

Beyond this, Athenaeus gives us no real clue, and the evidence here does not. Prostitutes were regularly regarded as devotees of Aphrodite in Greek literature, but that does not make them cult prostitutes per se. It is in light of the last point that we Prostitutes Temple City read Strabo's other reference to hetairai both at Corinth and in Comana Pontica who were considered to be "sacred to Aphrodite" At the very least, we should point out that Comana in Pontus was hardly in the center of the Hellenic world and hardly represents Greek cult practices.

It was more likely under Armenian influence it neighbored Armenia Minor where Strabo reports on cult prostitution which does fit our narrow definition.

He writes:. Here they dedicate to her service male and female slaves. This, indeed, is not a remarkable thing; but the most illustrious men of the tribe actually consecrate to her their daughters while maidens; and it is the custom for these first to be prostituted in the temple of the goddess for a long time and after this to be given in marriage; and no one disdains to live in wedlock with such a woman.

Something of this kind is told also by Herodotus in his account Prostitutes Temple City the Lydian woman, who, one and all, he says, prostitute themselves There Prostitutes Temple City three important observations about this passage.

First, Strabo is describing cult prostitution in Armeniawhich he also regards as customary in Persia. This is not the Greek world which we are discussing. If the citizens of Acilisene practiced Prostitutes Temple City custom of prostituting their daughters before marriage, it does not relate to Greek or Roman cult practices.

Secondly, Strabo explicitly cites Herodotus as his source for Lydian and probably Persian cult prostitution. To evaluate Herodotus's "often hilarious" account of Babylonian cult prostitution Simon Pembroke also takes us outside the geographical and temporal boundaries Prostitutes Temple City our Prostitutes Temple City. And we are also not going to examine the historical veracity of Strabo's report on Acilisene cult prostitution for the same reason.

Finally, Strabo's attitude toward the cult prostitution of the daughters of the Armenian nobles comes through quite clearly in his description: he thinks it bizarre.

If this sort of thing were encountered in the Greek and Roman world of his Prostitutes Temple City - and Strabo himself traveled widely Prostitutes Temple City we would not expect Strabo Prostitutes Temple City be shocked at the Armenian cult practice. In particular notice that. And it was even more remarkable to him that "no one disdains to live in wedlock with such a woman.

This concludes our broader survey of Greek cult prostitution. We have looked at all the main ancient sources for the supposed practice and come away skeptical.

We will not do so here; however, I will simply report that these sources do not mention cult Prostitutes Temple City, which is a significant lacuna.

Many people today think that cult prostitution was practiced in Pauline Ephesus. This is an innocuous opinion in some cases, but Prostitutes Temple City others it has far-reaching implications for the interpretation of 1 Tim in particular, a text of central importance in the current discussion Prostitutes Temple City the ordination of women to the pastoral office. Before proceeding, let me point out that neither Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Dio Chrysostom, Pausanias, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, nor any other ancient author speaks explicitly or even hints at cult prostitution in either the narrow or broad sense in Ephesus of any period.

Nor is it evidenced in the nearly 4, extant Greek and Latin inscriptions from Ephesus. This is an opinion found only in modern writers. As only one example, Prostitutes Temple City Hodgin Gritz, in the published version of her doctoral dissertation on 1 Tim makes the Prostitutes Temple City statement in connection with the worship of the chief goddess of Ephesus, Artemis Ephesia:.

Multitudes of priestesses ministered in the religion of Artemis. These women came to the temple as virgins, dedicated to the service of Artemis. They worked under the superintendence of the chief eunuch, the Megabyzus.

Did these priestesses function as temple prostitutes or did they retain their virginity? Some contended that the cultic rites at the Artemision did not include sacred prostitution. Others, however, asserted that ceremonial prostitution did exist at Ephesus. To this point, Gritz has only reviewed the opinion of previous writers. In the next paragraph, she decides the issue to her own satisfaction as follows:.

Even if the priestesses of Artemis were virgins, there existed elements of sexual impurity in her festivals. Also, one could question the ancient sources which gave evidence of the virginity of these priestesses.

How did these view the concept of virginity? As the Mother Goddess herself, priestesses could serve in temple rites without preserving their chastity and Prostitutes Temple City be considered "virgins" or "sacred" simply because they had not married.

This argument found support in the fact that "einer verheirateten Frau bei Todesstrafe verboten war, den Temple zu betreten.

Jewish prostitution, and even small scale procuring and trafficking continued, but the conditions were no longer ripe for large-scale activities as emigration slowed down and Jews in western countries increasingly moved up the economic ladder.

Some form of temple prostitution probably did exist in Ephesus even if with limitations. For Gritz, this all relates to Paul's prohibition of women teachers and elders 1 Tim in that he refers only to the Ephesian women, because "undoubtedly, some of the new Christian converts had once been cultic priestesses" and were therefore unstable sorts who were loaded down with "guilty Prostitutes Temple City of 'sacred' Prostitutes Temple City misconduct.

The scenario just depicted might seem quite plausible in abstract, but, unfortunately, it has almost nothing to do with Prostitutes Temple City Ephesus.

In fact, if one removes the historical errors from the material supporting Gritz's conclusions, very little remains except Prostitutes Temple City fancy. She refers to "ancient sources" but cites none. I am not interested in conducting a critique of Gritz's work here. Gritz herself has not contributed anything original on this specific point; she shows no evidence in her notes or bibliography of having consulted any ancient primary source of any sort in this connection.

Instead, her belief in Ephesian cult prostitution is clearly derived from a Prostitutes Temple City named Camdem Cobern whom she paraphrases and cites. Cobern's contribution to the topic of Ephesian cult prostitution is limited to these two sentences: "The head of the temple hierarchy [at Ephesus] was the Megabyzus, or chief priest, who was probably a Persian.

A multitude of priestesses, who came as virgins to the temple, were dedicated to prostitution in the temple's service. But what is most remarkable, is that Prostitutes Temple City himself makes this passing judgment on Ephesian priestesses of Artemis with no citation of ancient evidence in its support.

smartnpo.com: Cult Prostitution In New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal by S. M. Baugh

There is a footnote, but in it Cobern merely remarks how his opinion relates to that of a contemporary writer. In other words, what appears be a scholarly consensus on ancient Ephesus, is actually an unsubstantiated passing comment from one author.

This has made the various statements today particularly difficult to critique. For instance, Sharon Gritz asserts that "there existed elements of sexual impurity" in the festivals of Artemis Ephesia.

However, without citation of ancient sources for this statement, how can one either confirm or deny that ancient references to these festivals have been properly interpreted? We can only guess, particularly when experts in the field know of no such sexual elements.

On the other hand, there is a way to critique the ideas under consideration, but it involves some reading and technical evaluation of ancient Prostitutes Temple City this is why the footnotes in the works of ancient historians are often so ponderous. It is not my intent to conduct a full review of all the evidence here, but hopefully enough will be given and briefly discussed to provide Prostitutes Temple City more accurate picture of Artemis Ephesia and Prostitutes Temple City priestesses.

The reader interested in a further discussion will be referred to other works in the footnotes. Artemis Ephesia. This seems to make the idea of sacred prostitution in her Prostitutes Temple City more plausible to the modern mind. But it is a highly debatable picture of the goddess at the time of Paul, and one with which I personally do not agree. Prostitutes Temple City is possibly true that the Prostitutes Temple City settlers of ancient Ephesus well over 1, years before Paul found and adopted an Anatolian goddess whom they transmuted into Artemis Ephesia.

Her famous cult statue may reflect that ancestry, but we have clear evidence that in the Hellenistic and Roman era, this ancestry was intentionally downplayed by the Ephesian sacred officials in charge of her cultus the Megabyzos was extinct by Paul's day, by the way.

The ancient Ephesians themselves presented Artemis Ephesia to the world as the traditional tomboy huntress who stood for chastity and the rejection of marriage.

One authority on ancient Ephesus calls the view of Artemis as "a multi-breasted fertility goddess" a "gross misunderstanding" because of "the paucity of ancient evidence that supports the idea.

And even if the experts are wrong Prostitutes Temple City Artemis Ephesia was indeed conceived of as a mother goddess in Prostitutes Temple City, this would not ipso facto mean that cult prostitutes served her. Remember that Strabo thought it was the goddess of love and the patron goddess of prostitutes, Aphrodite, who had prostitutes devoted to her in antique Corinth. Nor was it Artemis. Secondly, although we keep reading about "orgiastic rites" attached to the worship of Artemis of Ephesus in modern authors, I have yet to find out what they are talking about or any trace of such in the ancient sources.

The cult practices of Artemis Ephesia evidenced in our sources are the standard, relatively innocent corporate activities found in Greek state cults: feasts, festivals and public sacrifices IvE 24banquets IvE ; Strabo, IvE The Priestesses of Artemis Ephesia. That is enough of a review of the problems with the received Prostitutes Temple City.

It is time to look for ourselves at some of the best direct evidence we have for the priestesses of Artemis. I submit the following translated Prostitutes Temple City inscriptions for your consideration with interpretation to follow. This Prostitutes Temple City most of the extant inscriptions; the few others are fragmentary or have only passing references to priestesses of Artemis, but they fit the same pattern to be discussed.

Kallinoe's appointment is specially noted because she was not an Ephesian, but probably from Tralles where this inscription was found.

The office of Kosmeteira [ ] as its etymology from ["adornment"] suggests, probably involved the adornment of the cult statue of Artemis as was common in the worship of Prostitutes Temple City goddesses. Hordeonia Pulchra, Priestess and Kosmeteiradaughter of P. Another Priestess, the daughter of Flavia Meltine, whose name is lost from the stone "[made] all the distributions of her priesthood and gave to the city 5, denarii, they - namely Flavia Meltine her mother, daughter of Maior, and Maior her grandfather, and Maior the Younger her uncle - gave it to the city from their own funds" IvE T itus Aulius Priscus, the secretary and imperial freedman, her foster father, set up this honor" Knibbe Prostitutes Temple City al.

Prostitutes Temple City Barus and of Flavia Tertulla. The building works was the extensive Varius bath complex.

Side B is similar for a certain Claudia, but broken up. Priestess of Arte]mis, completed her term of Priestess piously and with decorum, restored all the rites of the goddess and funded them in accord with ancient custom, daughter of M. This inscription goes on to list many of Claudia's ancestors and relatives [including Julia Damiane Polla, Flavia Polla, and Julia Polla] who served as Priestesses and Kosmeteirae ; see the geneology given in the note to IvE Let us make some general observations about the priestesses Prostitutes Temple City this list before drawing a conclusion.

First, it appears that Prostitutes Temple City priesthood was an annual office with one priestess serving each year. This is indicated by the use of the aorist participle,rendered "completed her term as Priestess" e.