Literatuur
Bijbelteksten

Prostitutie

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In Lev. 19:29, Deut. 23:17 wordt vermeld dat hoererij verboden is, toch zijn er verschillende voorbeelden van bekend. Thamar kleedde zich als een hoer en wist zo haar schoonvader te verleiden, waarbij ze eerst een זנה zônâ (Gen. 38:15) wordt genoemd en later קדשה qedešâ (Gen. 38:21), beiden met de betekenis van "hoer", waarbij het laatste op iemand die "geheiligd" is (een soort tempelprostituee?). Ook de zonen van Eli lieten zich met hen in (1 Sam. 2:22), terwijl de profeet Hosea zelfs opdracht krijgt om met een hoer te trouwen (Hosea 1:2ev; 3:1ev).

Geschiedenis van de prostitutie

Volgens Stephanie Lynn Budin (The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity, [2008]) bestond er vroeger niet iets als tempelprostitutie (cf. S. M. Baugh, "Cult Prostitution in New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal",Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42.3 (1999): 443-460)

• 2400 v.C. Sumerian Records; “The Sumerian word for female prostitute, kar.kid, occurs in the earliest lists of professions dating back to ca. 2400 B.C. Since it appears right after nam.lukur… one can assume its connection with temple service. It is of interest that the term kur-garru, a male prostitute or transvestite entertainer, appears on the same list but together with entertainers. This linkage results from a practice connected with the cult of Ishtar, in which transvestites performed acts using knives. On the same list we find the following female occupations: lady doctor, scribe, barber, cook. Obviously, prostitution, while it is a very old profession, is not the oldest.” (Gerda Lerner, “The Origin of Prostitution in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Signs, Winter 1986)
• 1780 v.C. Hammurabi’s Code; specifieke vermelding van de rechten van een prostituee of een kind van een prostituee. (Codes 178-80, 187, 192, 193)
• 1075 v.C. Code van Assura; De Assyrische wet onderscheidde prostituees van andere vrouwen door het dragen van specifieke kleding in de Code van Assura. “If the wives of a man, or the daughters of a man go out into the street, their heads are to be veiled. The prostitute is not to be veiled. Maidservants are not to veil themselves. Veiled harlots and maidservants shall have their garments seized and 50 blows inflicted on them and bitumen [asphalt or tar like substance] poured on their heads.” (Internet Ancient History Sourcebook, The Code of the Assura (1988))
• 600s v.C. Legale bordelen (China); “According to Chinese tradition, commercial brothels were started in the seventh century B.C. by the stateman-philosopher Kuang Chung [b.710-d.645] as a means for increasing the state’s income. Though there is some doubt as to whether Kuang Chung actually established the principle of licensing prostitutes, prostitution very early was set apart in special areas of the town.” (Vern and Bullough, Prostitution: An Illustrated History (1978))
• 594 v.C. Legale bordelen  (Griekenland); “The celebrated Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon founded state brothels and taxed prostitutes on their earnings in the 5^th century BC…. The cost of sex was one obole, a sixth of a drachma and the equivalent of an ordinary worker’s day salary.” (Paul Vallely, “A Brief History of Brothels,” The London Independent  (Jan. 21, 2006))
• 5^de eeuw v.C. Hetairai (Griekenland); “[He]taira…a ‘female companion’… was the term normally used for courtesans in Classical Athens… They were generally more cultivated than citizen women; they were trained (usually by older hetairai) to be entertaining and interesting rather than to be thrifty managers of households… Some hetairai functioned as entrenched mistresses or even common-law wives, but others less fortunate were essentially prostitutes.” (Sarah B. Pomeroy,  Ancient Greece A Political, Social, and Cultural History (1999)) ”Apasia, was a hetaira, one of the highly educated women from eastern Greece who entertained and accompanied men in many of their festivals, often including sex. As the mistress of Perikles, a principal ruler of Athens in the mid-fifth century B.C.E., Aspasia’s influence on the Athenian leader was reputedly enormous; at various times his policies and speeches were ascribed to her.” (Bella Vivante, Women’s Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide (1999))
• 180 v.C. Romeinse verordeningen; “Rent from a brothel was a legitimate source of income…. Procuration also, had to be notified before the aedile [government regulators], whose special business it was to see that no Roman matron became a prostitute…. [I]n the year 180 BCE Caligula inaugurated a tax upon prostitutes (vectigal ex capturis)…When an applicant registered with the aedile, she gave her correct name, her age, place of birth, and the pseudonym under which she intended practicing her calling. (Plautus, Poen.)  If the girl was young and apparently respectable, the official sought to influence her to change her mind; failing in this, he issued her a license (licentia stupri), ascertained the price she intended exacting for her favors, and entered her name in his roll. Once entered there, the name could never be removed, but must remain for all time an insurmountable bar to repentance and respectability. Failure to register was severely punished upon conviction, and this applied not only to the girl but to the pandar [sic] as well. The penalty was scourging, and frequently fine and exile. Notwithstanding this, however, the number of clandestine prostitutes at Rome was probably equal to that of the registered harlots.” (W.C. Firebaugh, Notes in his translation of The Satyricon, Complete (1922) door Petronius Arbiter)
• 438 n.C. Codex Theodosianus; “…[T]he Code issues by Christian [Byzantine] Emperor Theodosius [II]… deprived fathers and mothers of their legal right to compel their daughters or slaves to prostitute themselves. The code also took steps to abolish the prostitution tax, thus giving the state less of a financial interest in prostitution…” (Vern & Bonnie Bullough, Prostitution: An Illustrated Social History (1978))

Aangemaakt 19 oktober 2005

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