Prostitution in Mesopotamia - brothels at temples and a lot of beer for ladies and their clients

You can often hear that prostitution is the oldest profession. But is it possible to determine the era when the first real priestesses of love appeared? Scientists have read the cuneiform tablets of the Sumerians who lived in Mesopotamia before the Assyrians, and there were already mentioned prostitutes. In the 4th millennium BC, officials kept records of grain that was given to prostitutes for work, and Sumerian kings copulated with temple prostitutes in the sanctuaries of the goddess Inanna.

The first states in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates appeared simultaneously with the ancient Egyptian kingdoms. The people who inhabited these territories were famous for their belligerence, craving for the arts and sciences, as well as incredible freedom of morals. At the same time, the sexual freedom of the Sumerians was far from complete. The family life of the inhabitants of ancient city-states was strictly regulated by laws.

A woman, after getting married, found herself almost in slavery to her husband. She lived in her own half of the house and could not leave it unless necessary. Married Sumerian women went out very rarely and mostly accompanied by men. Harassment was punishable by death and it was described in the laws.

This was the law under the number 130, written by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who lived in 1792-1750 BC. In 129, the law describes cases of adultery:

But what were unmarried men, travelers and others who did not have wives to do? It was a sin for them to complain, since there was a powerful organized prostitution at the services of bachelors in Mesopotamia. This activity was quite legitimate and even completely mundane. Selling love was not considered something shameful and it was treated the same as trading fish or grain.

In Mesopotamia, clay tablets were used for writing. Thanks to this, a lot of interesting information has reached our days. Poems, myths, records of merchants and moneylenders, personal letters and much more were found. There is also a mention of the oldest profession and the names of the first six documented prostitutes.

Tablets telling about prostitutes were found in the Sumerian city of Shuruppak. It was known as the center of grain storage and flourished in the period 2600-2500 BC. These are official documents telling about the distribution of grain shares between residents. Among the workers, officials, merchants and cupbearers were several prostitutes. These ladies were also considered workers and received rations for their craft.

In total, seven girls are listed on the tablet, but time has preserved for us only the names of six: An-ama-gu, An-mu-da, Igi-gun, Nin-gu-gal, Nin-men and Nin-ni-gi. Surprisingly, Ning-men is recorded as a couple with a certain Shimu. This was her legal spouse, which did not prevent the woman from offering love for money. Perhaps it was the first pimp in history.

Historian Gerald Cooper in the article "Sexual Work. The social and economic role of prostitutes in ancient Mesopotamia" suggests that this was a common practice. Often poor families gave their daughters to the rich for "adoption", and they forced them to engage in prostitution. It often happened that the husband who was left without work for some reason sent his faithful "to the panel".

The work of prostitutes in Mesopotamia can be called highly paid. The girls in demand received 1 - 1.5 shekels of silver for one meeting with a client. An employee received about the same amount per month. There were special places in the cities where you could always find priestesses of love. They usually stood at the city gates or met customers in taverns.

Taverns have always been considered places with a dubious reputation. In Mesopotamia, these establishments were strongly associated with alcohol and prostitution. To understand the role that taverns played in the life of the Sumerians, it is enough to read one of the hymns written on a tablet in the name of the goddess Inanna (who later became Ishtar):

As we can see, taverns are strongly associated with prostitution among the inhabitants of Sumer. Even a goddess, once at the gates of a drinking establishment, turns into a corrupt woman. The favorite drink of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia was beer — it literally flowed like a river.

In addition to the cuneiform tablets on which the texts are written, archaeologists have also found many clay plates with images. Some of them have a frankly pornographic meaning. The most popular obscene plot was precisely a scene from a tavern. The sign depicted a woman drinking beer from a jug through a straw and a man attached to her from behind.

But why did the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia need thousands of similar images of different sizes and levels of execution? There is no definite answer to this question. Israeli researcher Ilan Peled in his scientific work "Erotica 4000-year-old depicts strikingly frank ancient sexuality" suggests that these frivolous pictures could have quite a serious meaning.

It is possible that they depict not just a drunken prostitute and her client, but the goddess of love and war Ishtar. Thus, indecent images imprinted on clay were an integral part of the cult. But the same Ilan Peled makes a reservation that this is just a hypothesis and, quite possibly, that everything is simpler. "Perhaps we are just looking at a very early version of Playboy in the Middle Eastern style," the scientist jokes.

In the 3rd millennium BC, there was an interesting custom in Mesopotamia. The king of the Sumerian city-state spent a night of love with a priestess personifying the goddess Inanna. In this way he received blessings for his people and ensured the prosperity of the kingdom.

This is how the historian Frederick Apfel-Marglen writes about this rite in his scientific article "Hierodulia". The Sumerian text describes the ritual with intimate details, though not too eloquently:

But later, the feast of the copulation of the king and the goddess turned into an ordinary temple prostitution. The High priestess, as before, went to the king, and her colleagues of a lower rank were available to ordinary men. The priestesses kept part of the payment for services, and gave part to the temple.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who lived 484-425 BC, wrote about customs in Babylon:

Despite the fact that prostitution among the Sumerians was a legal and ordinary way of earning money for women, this occupation was not honorable. A tablet with the instruction of an Akkadian father to his son has been preserved. It was made in 2200 BC and in it the parent warns the son.

He does not advise him to marry a prostitute "who has many men" and "Ishtar is a woman dedicated to God...". In his opinion, this is an unreliable life partner, from whom in difficult moments of life you can expect not help, but only reproaches and ridicule.

Another stronghold of free love in the ancient world was Greece. Sexual relations were considered normal there, which are now considered a vice in the most tolerant countries.