Prostitution In The Ancient World

Prostitution is considered one of the world’s oldest occupations. It has witnessed the rise and fall of empires, overthrows of kings and emperors and the evolution of ideology. It has also seen quite possibly the biggest transition of the ancient world that still affects the society today. The changeover from polytheism to the monotheism ideology of the Christian Church was a major development in the ancient world. Prostitution saw this transformation and survived it, but not with out adjustments. While it can be stated that all ancient civilization was transformed and it can be examined through many facets about a variety of groups it is the prostitutes that bare it the most. Two considerable revisions to the society occurred with the
Christian Church, the idea that everyone had a soul and the creation of a heaven alongside a hell.
First, was that a person gained a soul and not only that, but they could influence where they would go in the afterlife with the actions that they lead in their life.
This was uniquely transformative because for so long it was accepted that no matter what one did in their life it never altered their afterlife. Consequently, this is why the perceptions about prostitutes changed so drastically. She or he was always viewed as dirty or unclean, but to consciously make the choice to be a lady of the night and sell their bodies for sex was a slap in the face to Christianity. Furthermore, the prostitute was ultimately conveying that she didn’t care about her afterlife. Of course, this negated the fact that most prostitutes were slaves made to sell their bodies for the benefit of their masters or pimps. However, this did not sway the views about prostitutes. She had a soul that she was purposefully making unclean and therefore choosing a dreadful path for her soul in the
afterlife. The second alteration to society was the creation of heaven and hell.
There was no long just an underworld where everyone went after death, but now there was a way for the eternal soul to go into the heavens and be with God, the creator of everything. Before the Christian church there was only one direction to go after death and that was down into the underworld to be with Hades or Pluto for the Romans. After the installation of the Christian Church there was a new place for a soul to go, heaven. In this heaven there was nothing but joy and happiness for one to spend their eternal afterlife doing what made them happy. Conversely with this heaven there was also the creation of hell where those who lived in sin would go to endure everlasting torture. Consequently, prostitutes were condemned to this new hell because of the sinful lives they lead. As with the creation of the soul and the prostitutes’s willingness to stain their souls with the sins of their deviant sexual behaviors, the creation of a hell showed that same perceived defiance. Not only was she willing to commit a sin openly, but she was knowingly allowing herself to be condemned to eternal
damnation. Bring these two evolutions together and what Christianity and the society have done is shift the entire world of a prostitute. It negates the fact that most prostitutes were slaves bending to the will of a master or a pimp and it gives them complete control of everything. Before the Christian Church prostitutes were just dirty women who had sex with men, married or not, and they were not a hassle to the society. After the Christian Church they were openly defiant dirty people who didn’t care about what God had to say about their behaviors. So in order to get prostitutes to conform to Christianities strict rules on right and wrong, what made a sin a sin and what did not society changed their perceptions of the prostitutes, authority figures changed the laws and Christianity as a whole changed the societies view on sexuality. This is why this thesis is important and has never been touched by another scholar. Prostitution makes itself open to punishment by the Christian Church and does not realize it is coming. The implementation of these two new thoughts are revolutionary and spring themselves on the society in order to create a more moral image. However, these women are the outliers and the defiant and are openly spoken about in the major works of Christianity. This occupation is a specific target by many emperors, popes, and other religious leaders though they did not ask for it. That is why it is important to cover.