The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity

382 Pages·2010·1.49 MB·English

P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
This page intentionally left blank
ii
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
THE MYTH OF SACRED PROSTITUTION IN ANTIQUITY
In this study, Stephanie Lynn Budin demonstrates that sacred prostitution,
thesaleofaperson’sbodyforsexinwhichsomeorallofthemoneyearned
wasdevotedtoadeityoratemple,didnotexistintheancientworld.Recon-
sideringtheevidencefromtheancientNearEast,theGreco-Romantexts,
andtheearlyChristianauthors,Budinshowsthatthemajorityofsourcesthat
havetraditionallybeenunderstoodaspertainingtosacredprostitutionactu-
ally have nothing to do with this institution. The few texts that are usually
invokedonthissubjectare,moreover,terriblymisunderstood.Furthermore,
contrarytomanycurrenthypotheses,thecreationofthemythofsacredpros-
titution has nothing to do with notions of accusation or the construction
of a decadent, Oriental “Other.” Instead, the myth has come into being as
a result of more than 2,000 years of misinterpretations, false assumptions,
and faulty methodology. The study of sacred prostitution is, effectively, a
historiographicalreckoning.
StephanieLynnBudinreceivedherPh.D.inAncientHistoryfromtheUni-
versityofPennsylvaniawithconcentrationsinGreeceandtheancientNear
East.SheistheauthorofTheOriginofAphrodite(2003)andnumerousarti-
clesonancientreligionandiconography.ShehasdeliveredpapersinAthens,
Dublin,Jerusalem,London,Nicosia,Oldenburg,andStockholm,aswellas
invariouscitiesthroughouttheUnitedStates.
i
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
ii
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
The Myth of Sacred
Prostitution in
Antiquity
STEPHANIE LYNN BUDIN
iii
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521880909
© Stephanie Lynn Budin 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2007
ISBN-13 978-0-511-39464-5 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-88090-9 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
In Loving Memory of A. John Graham
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:1)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)
v
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
vi
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments page ix
Abbreviations xi
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. TheAncientNearEasternData . . . 14
3. The So-Called “Evidence” . . . . . 48
4. Herodotos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5. In the Footsteps of Herodotos:
Lucian and “Jeremiah” . . . . . . . . 93
6. Pindar Fragment 122 . . . . . . . . . 112
7. Strabo, Confused and
Misunderstood. . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
8. Klearkhos, Justinus, and
Valerius Maximus . . . . . . . . . . . 210
9. Archaeological “Evidence”
from Italy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
10. The Early Christian Rhetoric. . .260
11. Last Myths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287
Bibliography 337
Index 357
Index Locorum 363
vii
P1:ICD
9780521572019pre CUFX214/Budin 9780521880909 November12,2007 19:38
viii