The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity

by Stephanie Lynn Budin

Book Overview

In this study, Stephanie Budin demonstrates that sacred prostitution, the sale of a person's body for sex in which some or all of the money earned was devoted to a deity or a temple, did not exist in the ancient world. Reconsidering the evidence from the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman texts, and the Early Christian authors, Budin shows that the majority of sources that have traditionally been understood as pertaining to sacred prostitution actually...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521178045
• ISBN13: 9780521178044
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"