Hmmm..as curious as to why this would need a whole book? I am currently reading a book by Lesley Hazleton called "Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot".
She addresses the issue of "sacred prostitution" on two pages, debunking it by saying, to paraphrase, that it was a story made up by Herodotus(sp?) I believe, don't have book in front of me, and that he most certainly made it up as he could never have been there and that later "academics" picked up on this theme as it fit into their Orientalist fantasies.
She says that it could have been debunked long ago by asking why societies that placed such high regard on paternity for inheritance issues, would condone or even require, that virgins prostitute themselves in the temples....makes sense to me.
|