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277 - Prostitution: The History and Morality of Sex Work

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

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The Importance of Sexual Rituals in Mesopotamia

The Sumerian word for female prostitute, Car Kid, occurs in the earliest list of professions dating back to 2400 BCE. These records are also described as Temple Brothels, operated by Sumerian priests in the city of Eric. This Cocklem or Temple was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, was the home to three grades of women providing sexual services. The first grade of women permitted to only perform sexual rituals in the Temple. Second group had access to the grounds, third and lowest class lived on the Temple grounds and also free to find customers in the streets outside of the Temple grounds. According to Herodotus, the famed Greek historian, the rites performed at these temples included sexual

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