Ancient Near East - Prostitution

In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.04.28, Vinciane Pirenne-Delforg reviews Stephanie Budin's, "The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity" (2008). It include the following summary statement: "The thesis supported by the author is clearly stated at the very beginning: 'Sacred prostitution never existed in the ancient Near East or Mediterranean' (p. 1)."

Ishtar and Aphrodite were associated with prostitution. The Hindi worship of Shiva has included devadasis, dancers and ritual prostitutes.

One of the pyramids of Egypt may have been built for the Greek slave and Egyptian prostitute Rhodopis.