Prostitution has been practiced throughout ancient and modern culture. The Ancient Near East was home to many shrines, temples or "houses of heaven," which were dedicated to various deities. These shrines and temples were documented by the Greek historian Herodotus in The Histories , [4] where sacred prostitution was a common practice.
These describe a temple - brothel operated by Sumerian priests in the city of Uruk. This kakum or temple was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and was the home to three grades of women. The first grade of women were only permitted to perform sexual rituals in the temple, the second group had access to the grounds and catered to visitors, and the third and lowest class lived on the temple grounds.
The third class was also free to find customers in the streets. In the region of Canaan , a significant portion of temple prostitutes were male. This was also widely practiced in Sardinia and in some of the Phoenician cultures, usually in honor of the goddess Ashtart.
Presumably under the influence of the Phoenicians, [ citation needed ] this practice was developed in other ports of the Mediterranean Sea , such as Erice Sicily , Locri Epizephiri , Croton , Rossano Vaglio and Sicca Veneria. In later years sacred prostitution and similar classifications for females were known to have existed in Greece, Rome, India, China, and Japan. Prostitution was commonplace in ancient Israel.
There are a number of references to prostitution in the Hebrew Bible. The Biblical story of Judah and Tamar Genesis provides a depiction of prostitution being practiced in that time period. In this story the prostitute waits at the side of a highway where she waits for travelers. She covers her face in order to identify herself as a prostitute. Instead of being paid in money she asks for a kid goat. This would have been the equivalent of a high price, showing that only the wealthy owner of numerous herds could have afforded to pay for a single sexual encounter.
