plied on earth by the
real, though temporary, union of the human sexes at the sanctuary
of the goddess for the sake of thereby ensuring the fruitfulness
of the ground and the increase of man and beast. In course of
time, as the institution of individual marriage grew in favor,
and the old communism fell more and more into discredit, the
revival of the ancient practice, even for a single occasion in a
woman's life, became ever more repugnant to the moral sense of
the people, and accordingly they resorted to various expedients
for evading in practice the obligation which they still
acknowledged in theory.... But while the majority of women thus
contrived to observe the form of religion without sacrificing
their virtue, it was still thought necessary to the general
welfare that a certain number of them should discharge the old
obligation in the old way. These became prostitutes, either for
life or for a term of years, at one of the temples: dedicated to
the service of religion, they were invested with a sacred
character, and their vocation, far from being deemed infamous,
was probably long regarded by the laity as an exercise of more
than common virtue, and rewarded with a tribute of mixed wonder,
reverence, and pity, not unlike that which in some parts of the
world is still paid to women who seek to honor their Creator in a
different way by renouncing the natural functions of their sex
and the tenderest relations of humanity" (J.G. Frazer, _Adonis,
Attis, Osiris_, 1907, pp. 23 et seq.).

It is difficult to resist the conclusion that this theory
represents the central and primitive idea which led to the
development of sacred prostitution. It seems equally clear,
however, that as time went on, and especially as temple cults
developed and priestly influence increased, this fundamental and
primitive idea tended to become modified, and even transformed.
The primitive conception became specialized in the belief that
religious benefits, and especially the gift of fruitfulness, were
gained _by the worshipper_, who thus sought the goddess's favor
by an act of unchastity which might be presumed to be agreeable
to an unchaste deity. The rite of Mylitta, as described by
Herodotus, was a late development of this kind in an ancient
civilization, and the benefit sought was evidently for the