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Priestesses and "Sacred Prostitutes" in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean
A deep concern for the fertility of land and people was central to ritual activity in ancient Eastern Mediterranean cultures, and, in some, cultic sexual intercourse constituted the mythic and ritual expression of that concern. The peoples of the area worshipped many deities, among them powerful "fertility" goddesses. Further, their deities were usually members of female - male pairs; this female - male complementarity normally extended to temple functionaries. In interpreting this concern with fertility and its sexual expression, scholars often state that these religions promoted sexual promiscuity and counted among their temple personnel "sacred prostitutes." I will review what scholars know about priestesses and about cultic sex in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean and try to determine whether "sacred prostitution" was widespread.
In Mesopotamia and, perhaps, other ancient Eastern Mediterranean cultures, the sexual ritual that scholars call "the Sacred Marriage" occurred in some form or other. If it involved human participants, they would have incarnated deities. Neither would have been a prostitute!
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, "prostitution" means: "The offering of the body for indiscriminate lewdness for hire ...; whoredom, harlotry." By this definition, a prostitute is sexually promiscuous and, significantly, gets paid for sexual acts. Edwin Yamauchi's definition of "sacred prostitution," expanding on the dictionary one, is typical of scholarly pronouncements on the subject: "Cultic prostitution is a practice involving the female and at times the male devotees of fertility deities, who presumably dedicated their earnings to their deity" (213). He sees the "Sacred Marriage Rite" as one of the reasons for the practice, especially in Mesopotamia, where the king and "a temple prostitute" took the central roles. Obviously Yamauchi, as other scholars, is confusing ritual sex and paid sexual acts, whether sacred or not.
Prostitutes could have been available for hire near temples in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean area, but the evidence on priestesses does not support the argument that among them were "temple prostitutes." Further, the presentation of "cult prostitution" in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) seems to be partly responsible for the concept of "sacred prostitution."
Priestesses in ancient Mesopotamia
Rivkah Harris and other scholars have identified many Semitic and some Sumerian names for classes of priestess: entu, naditu, ishtaritu,...