ore they received only
their social equals.[1911] Baal Peor seems also to have been a case of
sacral harlotry.[1912] The strongest reason for thinking so is Hosea ix.
10. Rosenbaum[1913] interprets the pestilence as venereal. The
_kedeshim_ (male prostitutes) were expelled from Judah by Asa.[1914]
They had been there since Rehoboam.[1915] They are heard of again.[1916]
They were under vows and brought their earnings to Jahveh.[1917]
Farnell[1918] interprets a fragment of Pindar as proof of sacral
harlotry at Corinth. At a temple of the Epizephyrian Locri it was
practiced in fulfillment of a vow made by the people, under some ancient
insult, to consecrate their daughters if the goddess would help
them.[1919] Farnell also[1920] directs attention to a case in Sicily
where the connection is with the Carthaginian Eryx. In the
_Cistellaria_ of Plautus the usage is referred to as Tuscan.[1921]
Augustus rebuilt Carthage and it appears that the old usages had
survived the interval of one hundred and fifty years. The temple of
Tanith was rebuilt and called that of the celestial virgin. The Romans
forbade sacral harlotry, which was in strong antagonism to their sex
mores. Hahn has called attention[1922] to a passage which proves the
existence of sacral harlotry in Scandinavia just before the introduction
of Christianity in the tenth century. The hero remains through the
winter with the woman who was the consecrated attendant of the god Frey
and who traveled about with his wooden image. The people take the hero
to be the god, and rejoice when the priestess becomes a mother by
him.[1923] The Mexicans, with the same interests, under like conditions
evolved the same customs and similar ideas. Mayas of the lowest classes
sent out their daughters to earn their own marriage portions.[1924]

+595. The same customs in the Old Testament.+ In 1 Sam. i Hannah vowed
that if God would give her a son she would devote him to the Lord, in
sign of which no razor should touch him. She gave him to be an
_aedituus_, who lived in the temple awaiting divine instructions and
commissions. In Josh. ix. 23, 27 we have a case of war captives
condemned to menial service in the temple. In Ezek. xliv. 8, 9, the
people are blamed for putting heathen in the temple service instead of
doing it themselves. The _kedeshim_, temple prostitutes of both sexes,
are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, especially at every
reformation of the religion. They seem to bec