a href ="http://ciekawostkihistoryczne.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/egipcjanka.jpg"> Not without reason, prostitution is called the oldest profession in the world. While the last mammoths were chasing joyfully on Wrangel Island, in Egypt, hundreds of workers building the Djoser pyramid were just as joyfully taking advantage of the services offered by gentlemen.
The Egyptians did not know the concept of shame as it is today. It was quite common in the land of the pyramids to walk naked. Likewise, no one was surprised by public masturbation Which priests and even pharaohs committed on various feasts. The youth had premarital sex without any embarrassment or any specter of consequences. He was treated very leniently, unlike in most ancient cultures.
Such freedom of manners went hand in hand with the liberation of women. The average Greek or Roman woman could only envy the freedom of the ladies of the Nile. These were not only allowed to leave the house unattended, but also to date various gentlemen without fear of losing their honor or respect, often for purely erotic purposes.
Ancient Egyptian women were not afraid of nudity. The photo shows a statuette from around 4000 years old, unearthed in Asjut and exhibited in the Louvre (photo by Kamil Janicki).
No wonder that in a society of such customs, prostitution flourished like nowhere else. And it was guarded by… religion.
A free ticket at the temple harem
For example, there were temple harems in Egypt. They were organized at the tabernacles of Isis and Amon. A pilgrim going to such a temple could kill two birds on one spit:use the sexual services of a "priestess" and at the same time worship a god .
It was not, however, prostitution as such. The pilgrim did not have to strain his purse due to performing a religious act.
There are indications that women indulging in random travelers in temples were especially respected in society. They were distinguished by red painted lips, tattoos on the breasts and thighs, and blue dresses. Or no dresses at all.
The Virgin has a duty to let go
The religious role was also played by the dancers, traveling in groups in Egypt and selling their bodies to interested parties. According to historians, in the country of the Pharaohs there may have been a custom related to entering adulthood and consisting precisely in the submission of prostitution by young women.
Egyptian priestess worshiping the cat-god in a 19th-century painting.
One theory is that girls joined groups of dancers and only when they got pregnant did they return home with evidence of such important fertility for Egyptians.
Where in the land of the Pharaohs can you go "girls"?
The Egyptian did not have to make much effort to find a prostitute. These groups of girls traveled the country dancing, singing and providing sexual services wherever there was demand. He could also always wait for some interesting holiday. For example, in honor of Mut, enormous amounts of beer were drunk, which the Egyptians never poured over their collar. On this occasion, a lot of women willing to make an easy income appeared.
The average Egyptian, however, would certainly choose one of the ubiquitous beer houses . Located in larger centers, they functioned as a restaurant-baro-night club.
It was definitely more convenient and, above all, safer than using itinerant groups. Warnings against "strange women" are often found in historical sources, and it may be concluded that some Egyptians were simply afraid of them.
Even the daughters of the rulers prostituted themselves!
Prostitution in Egypt played an important religious and ritualistic role. The fact that she did not constitute - as today - the activities of the shameful is best evidenced by the stories about the pharaohs whose own daughters were prostituted.
Reportedly, the pharaoh Rampsynite, in order to find out who robbed his treasury, became a pimp for his daughter and sent her to work in a brothel. Before each intercourse, she would ask people about the most sly deed they had ever done in their lives.
Interestingly, the story ends with a happy end and the unmasked thief receives a princess' hand as a reward.
Another story is about Cheops. Faced with the lack of funds, he was to send his daughter to earn some money in a known way. The clever girl, however, accepted payment not only in currency, but also in stones.
Even death was not able to extinguish erotic desires in Egyptian men ... The photo shows a mummy figure with a large erection at the exhibition in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (photo:Kamil Janicki).
They were to create a pyramid, one of the three smaller ones adjacent to the Great Pyramid.
Luxurious concubines. Egypt's export commodity
Egyptian passion for prostitution gradually penetrated abroad as well. Probably the debauchery on the Nile became the model for heterosexuals from ancient Greece.
This is what Herodotus calls the Egyptian prostitutes. Importantly, this is not an ordinary streetwalker term.
A line of customers at an Egyptian brothel? Perhaps, although in fact they are figurines used to cast curses ... (photo:Kamil Janicki, made at the Louvre Museum).
Hetera is a woman of proper manners, manners and a solid social position. If these "professional requirements" were borrowed by the cultural Greeks from the land of the pharaohs, it could only be a proof that the sexual services in Egypt were of a really high standard.
Anyway, Herodotus himself, probably used to high Hellenic standards, wrote with delight about one of the Egyptian cities:
The Hereditary Talents of the Big Swallower
Even today, the names of prostitutes have survived, so proficient in their craft that thanks to him they gained great money and immortal fame. Yet the Egyptians spent their whole lives attaining immortality. It could be achieved as a mighty ruler, a fearless leader, or… a great harlot.
It should also be remembered that none other than Tais, hetter of Alexander the Great, later became the wife of Ptolemy Soter. The sons of a diadoch and a luxury prostitute founded a dynasty ruling Egypt until 31 BCE, the last of which was the famous Cleopatra.
This could explain the grace and abilities of Caesar's mistress and Mark Antony, known as the Great Swallower. And it seems to be without any exaggeration.
Literature:
- Krzemińska A., Love in Ancient Egypt, Warsaw 2004.
- Krzemińska A., Papyrus pornography , "Polityka", no. 43/2002.
- Karpiński M., The oldest profession in the world . History of prostitution , Warsaw 2010.