Religious prostitution is the practice of having sexual intercourse (with a person other than one's spouse) for a religious purpose. A woman engaged in such practices is sometimes called a temple prostitute or hierodule, though modern connotations of the term prostitute cause interpretations of these phrases to be highly misleading. Shortcut: WP:CU Marking articles for cleanup This page is undergoing a transition to an easier-to-maintain format. ... This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making things easy to read by following a consistent format — it is a style guide. ... Sexual intercourse, also called coitus, or simply, to have sex is the human form of copulation. ... In ancient Greece and Anatolia a hierodule, from Greek hiero- holy and doule female slave, was a temple slave in the service of a specific deity, often with the connotation of religious prostitution. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

It was revered highly among Sumerians and Babylonians. In ancient sources (Herodotus, Thucydides) there are many traces of hieros gamos (holy wedding), starting perhaps with Babylon, where each woman had to reach, once a year, the sanctuary of Militta (Aphrodite or Nana/Anahita), and there have sex with a foreigner, as a sign of hospitality, for a symbolic price. Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos Halikarnasseus) was a Dorian Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC - ca. ... Bust of Thucydides residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. ... Jupiter and Juno, by Agostino Carracci Hieros Gamos (Greek ιερός γάμος, holy wedding) or Hierogamy (Greek ιερογαμία, again holy wedding) means a coupling (sometimes marriage) of a god and a man or a woman, often having a symbolic meaning and generally conducted in the spring. ... Babylon was a city in Mesopotamia, the ruins of which can be found in present-day Babil Province, Iraq, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. ... The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 Aphrodite (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη, pronounced in English as and in Ancient Greek as ) was the Greek goddess of love, lust, beauty, and sexuality. ...

A similar type of prostitution was practiced in Cyprus (Paphos) and in Corinth, Greece, where the temple counted more than a thousand prostitutes (hierodules), according to Strabo. It was widely in use in Sardinia and in some of the Phoenician cultures, usually in honour of the goddess ‘Ashtart. Presumably by the Phoenicians, this practice was developed in other ports of the Mediterranean Sea, such as Erice (Sicily), Locri Epizephiri, Croton, Rossano Vaglio, and Sicca Veneria. Other hypotheses concern Asia Minor, Lydia, Syria and Etruscans. Temple of Apollo at Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Κόρινθος) is a Greek city, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the original isthmus, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. ... Temple of Hephaestus, an ancient Greek Doric temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Sardinia (pronounced ; Italian: Sardegna; Sardinian: Sardigna or Sardinna) in the is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily). ... ‘Ashtart, commonly known as Astarte (also Hebrew or Phoenician עשתרת, Ugaritic ‘ttrt (also ‘Attart or ‘Athtart), Akkadian dAs_tar_tú (also Astartu), Greek Αστάρτη (Astártê)), was a major northwest_Semitic goddess, cognate in name, origin, and functions with... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. ... Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Erice is a historical city in the mountains close to Trapani in Sicily, Italy. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian, Sicilian and Spanish, Σικελία in Greek) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 km² and 5 million inhabitants. ... Locri Epizephyri (epi-Zephyros, under the West wind; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was founded about 680 BC on the Italian shores of the Ionian Sea, near modern Capo Zefirio, by the Locrians, apparently by Opuntii (East Locrians) from the city of Opus, but including Ozolae (West... Crotone is a city in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Gulf of Taranto. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to... Lydia (Greek ) is a historic region of western Anatolia, congruent with Turkeys modern provinces of Ä°zmir and Manisa. ... The Etruscan civilization existed in Etruria and the Po valley in the northern part of what is now Italy, prior to the formation of the Roman Republic. ...

It was common in Israel too, but some prophets, like Hosea and Ezekiel, strongly fought it; it is assumed that it was part of the cults of Canaan, where a significant proportion of prostitutes were male (roughly the same proportion as there were men in society at large, about 50%). See also Hoshea, who has the same name in Biblical Hebrew. ... Ezekiel the Prophet of the Hebrew Scriptures is depicted on a 1510 Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo. ... Canaan (Canaanite: כנען, Hebrew: , Greek: Χαναάν whence Latin: Canaan; and from Hebrew, Aramaic: whence Arabic: ‎). Canaan is an ancient term for a region approximating present-day Israel(94%.) and West Bank and Gaza plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Lebanon and Syria. ...

According to the Bible, the Canaanite peoples had a system of religious prostitution. This is seen, for example, in Genesis 38:21, where Judah asks Canaanite men of Adulam "Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side?". The Hebrew original employs the word "kedsha" in Judah's question, as opposed to the standard Hebrew "zonah". The word "kedsha" is derived from the root KaDeSh, which signifies uniqueness and holiness; thus it possibly represents a religious prostitute, although it may be that the same rootword for 'holiness', KaDeSh, is used to express lasciviousness, being that both holiness and promiscuity can be described as 'separate', which is the real meaning of that root word. As a side point, it is known that part of Ammonite tradition, a bride would sit at the gates of a town before the wedding, and sleep with whomever came to the city.^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... Canaan (Canaanite: כנען, Hebrew: , Greek: Χαναάν whence Latin: Canaan; and from Hebrew, Aramaic: whence Arabic: ‎). Canaan is an ancient term for a region approximating present-day Israel(94%.) and West Bank and Gaza plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Lebanon and Syria. ... Genesis (Hebrew: , Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah, the first book of the Tanakh and also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... In Genesis (the first book of the Bible) Judah (יְהוּדָה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, born in Padan-aram (Genesis xxix. ... Ammon or Ammonites (עַמּוֹן People, Standard Hebrew ʻAmmon, Tiberian Hebrew ʻAmmôn), also referred to in the Bible as the children of Ammon, were a people living east of the Jordan river, who along with the Moabites traced their origin to Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, and who were...

It is also thought that the pagan priests called qedeshim (the masculine form of "qedsha") in the Torah regularly engaged in homosexual acts. Some explain the phrase "mahir kelev"(Deuteronomy 23:18-19) refers to the payment to a male prostitute. Male prostitutes in that time and place usually serviced men, not women. Moreover, Leviticus 18 contains a number of prohibitions regarding sexual relations with different people (some of them incestuous) that are thought to be relevant to Canaanite habits of religious prostitution inside family. These passages are often cited by conservative Christian denominations as indication of proscription against same-sex relations (homosexuality and bisexuality). Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages. ... Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. ... Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). ... Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual and romantic attraction between two individuals of the same sex. ... Bisexual redirects here. ...

In Greece, Solon instituted the first Athenian brothels (oik`iskoi) in the 6th century BC, and with the earnings of this business he built a temple dedicated to Aprodites Pandemo (or Qedesh), patron goddess of this commerce. The Greek word for prostitute is porne, derived from the verb pernemi (to sell), with the evident modern evolution. The procuring was however severely forbidden. Solon Solon (Greek: , ca. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... In Egyptian mythology, Qetesh (also Qadesh, Kadesh) was a goddess of love and fertility who was perhaps Syrian in origin. ...

Bernal Diaz del Castillo (16th century), in his The Conquest of New Spain, reported that the Mexica peoples regularly practiced pederastic relationships, and male adolescent sacred prostitutes would congregate in temples. The conquistadores, like most Europeans of the 16th century, were horrified by the widespread acceptance of sex between men and youths in Aztec society, and used it as one justification for the extirpation of native society, religion and culture, and the taking of the lands and wealth; of all customs of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples, only human sacrifice produced a greater disapproval amongst the Spaniards in Mexico. The custom died out with the collapse of the Aztec civilization. Bernal D az del Castillo (1492 or 1493 - 1581) was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico under Hern n Cort s. ... The Conquest of New Spain is the first person conquistador narrative of Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 or 1493 - 1581), a 16th century soldier, settler and conqueror who served with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernán Cortés in Mexico and Yucatan, and... The word Aztec is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. ... Religious prostitution, the vulgar epithet for hieros gamos, is the practice of having religiously motivated sexual relationships. ... Conquistador (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under Spanish rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. ... Nahuatl is a native language of central Mexico. ... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ...

There is a practice in southern India called "devadasi". It involves adolescent girls from villages to be married to a deity or a temple. After they reach puberty they are made to practice prostitution for upper-caste members. This practice was made illegal in 1988. Devadasi (in Sanskrit servant of god) is a religious practice still found in some Hindu communities, especially in southern India, in which young girls are married to a deity or a temple. ... Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a childs body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the 1970s and early 1980s some religious groups were discovered practicing sacred prostitution as an instrument to recruit new converts. Among them was the alleged cult Children of God/The Family who called this practice "Flirty Fishing". They later abolished the practice due to the growing AIDS epidemic. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... This article does not discuss cult in its original sense of religious practice; for that usage see Cult (religious practice). ... The Children of God (COG), later known as the Family of Love, the Family, and now the Family International, is a new religious movement, widely referred to as a cult[1] by the media and some government organizations, that started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, United States. ... Flirty Fishing (FFing) was a form of personal evangelism involving sexual attraction, practiced by the new religious movement, the Children of God/The Family, from 1974 until 1987 (abandoned because of the AIDS scare). ... Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ...

See also

• Deuki
• Devadasi
• Hieros gamos
• Hierodule
• Prostitution
• Sex worker