Paper 89 - Square Circles Publishing

SOURCE OR PARALLEL URANTIA PAPER 89The money earned by the templeprostitutes was held sacred among allpeoples—“No more welcome gift could a[Phœnician] woman bring to the deitythan the payment she received forsurrendering her body...” (S&K IV 685).[The women dedicated to the service ofthe temples in India] were once generallypatterns of piety and propriety but are notso now.“No doubt they drive a profitable tradeunder the sanction of religion, and somecourtesans have been known to amassenormous fortunes. Nor do they think itinconsistent with their method of makingmoney to spend it in works of piety. Hereand there Indian bridges and other usefulpublic works owe their existence to theliberality of the frail sisterhood” (S&K IV684).The cases given by Herodotus and Strabo... are mere variants of the above; oftenthe dowry for marriage was thuscollected, and there was no dishonorinvolved. Said Strabo: “The Armenianspay particular reverence to Anaïtis, andhave built temples to her honour inseveral places, especially in Acilisene.They dedicate there to her service maleand female slaves; in this there is nothingremarkable, but it is surprising thatpersons of the highest rank in the nationconsecrate their virgin daughters to thegoddess...” (S&K IV 686).Among the Dyaks of Borneo there is aclass of priestesses whose loose mode oflife does not make marriage impossiblefor them but rather the contrary (S&K1272).a high gift to present to the gods.The highest types of women thronged thetemple sex martsand devoted their earnings to all kinds ofsacred services and works of public good.Many of the better classes of womencollected their dowries by temporary sexservice in the temples,and most men preferred to have suchwomen for wives.44