At such gatherings, no inconsiderable amount of barter and traffic would spring up, and many, of a mercantile turn of mind, would realize the advantages of a permanent residence. The sailors and merchants from foreign parts could not always be expected to behave with propriety; they might, at times, be as anxious to “paint the town red” as the western cowboy is whenever he is paid off. The women of the city would be in constant danger of insult; hence, as a wise precaution, a certain class of young and attractive females were reserved for the service of the temples,—that is, for the gratification of the sexual passions of strangers and the enrichment of the priests.
Indeed, until some such mode of detail had been devised and carried into effect, and perhaps long after that, it seems to have been the custom for all the women of the city to share in this duty; we read that, at the temple of Mylitta, it was incumbent upon each woman to prostitute herself with a stranger at least once in her life, at the temple of that goddess.
The priests would impart to the prostitutes a knowledge of charms intended to secure good fortune; these charms would, in course of time, be adopted by prostitutes in general, who had no connection with the temple at all. Similar survivals can be traced among gamblers. Gambling was at one time a sacred method of divination. Those who cast omens were always on the lookout for good signs and bad. One of the best signs was to meet a man with a hump-back. Gamblers to-day consider themselves fortunate when they can rub the hump of a cripple.
This sacred prostitution was by no means confined to the Babylonians. The Hebrews had, attached to their temples, a class of persons of both sexes termed “Kadeshim,” to whom the opprobrious office of public prostitution has been attributed; and in numerous other parts of the world the same sort of personal degradation has been reported. The women devoted to this service wore a certain uniform. (See Dulaure, “Des Différents Cultes,” vol. ii. p. 75, speaking of the “Kadeshoth.” See also Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible,” New York, 1871, articles, “Harlot” and “Sodomite.”)
“The sons of Eli lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”—(1 Samuel ii. 22.)
“Throughout India, and also through the densely inhabited parts of Asia and modern Turkey, there is a class of females who dedicate themselves to the service of the Deity whom they adore, and the rewards accruing from their prostitution are devoted to the service of the temple and the priests officiating therein. The temples of the Hindus in the Dekkan possessed these establishments. They had bands of consecrated dancing-girls, called “women of the idol,” selected in their infancy by the priests for the beauty of their persons, and trained up with every elegant accomplishment that could render them attractive.”—(“The Masculine Cross,” privately printed, 1886, p. 31.)
Réclus has a dissertation upon this subject, which concludes in these words: “Aussi Juvénal se permettait de demander, ... Quel est le temple où les femmes ne se prostituent pas?”—(“Les Primitifs,” p. 79.)
Lenormant speaks of “the sacred prostitution, which was imposed once, at least, in a lifetime, upon all women, even those who were free.”—(“Chaldean Magic,” François Lenormant, p. 386.)