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Prostitution
calts throughout the Mediterranean, especi
ally in the cult of Aphrodite in Cyprus and
in that of Cybele, the Magna Mater of Asia
Minor, which was. introduced into Rome
during the Punic Wars (see APHRODITE
CYBELB). In Cybele’s cult and in the related
cult of her consort Attis, male perverts and
eunuchs played a conspicuous role, the
former in rites of ritual prostitution and
the latter as those who had in an ecstasy
of devotion emasculated themselves in the
service of the deity. Ritual prostitution was
f feature also of the cult of the Egyptian
goddess Isis, in its development as a
Mystery religion in Ptolemaic Egypt and in
Rome, where it was introduced at the end
of the rd century BC (see
J. GRAY
2104
God's Slaves
Sacred prostitutes were common in India
till the end of the 19th century, and
Benjamin Walker comments, in’ Hind
World, that: “The ancient temples were for
centuries establishments of venery, and the
early writers speak of the difficulty of honest
pilgrims trying to perform their religious
duties because of the shameless blandish:
ments and solicitations of the temple girls.
‘The practice of temple prostitution
is Said, though on no reliable authority, to
be current still, If it exists it is entirely
clandestine. The persuasion of Christian
missionaries, criticism from | European
observers, ‘and agitation by Hindu
reformers, have put a stop to it
The devadasi, or ‘god's slave’, usually
Canaanite fertility goddess depicted as a
sacred prostitute on an Egyptian stole: she
holds lotus and phallic serpents
began her career as a little girl of seven
‘or eight. She was formally married to the
god whose temple she was to serve, and
was ritually deflowered by a priest, or by a
favoured customer, or by the carved phallus
‘of a god's image. Trained in the sensuous
arts and in dancing, the girls were available
to worshippers at the temple, their earnings
and ‘they and the
going to the priests,
children who were born to them also helped
to clean the temple and assisted at cere-
monies. They enjoyed high prestige and were
nn demand at weddings, where a devadasi's
presence was a fortunate omen,
