The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 05 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 05 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
(M41) (2) The theory fails to account for the prostitution of married
women at Heliopolis(187) and apparently also at Babylon and Byblus; for in
describing the practice at the two latter places our authorities,
Herodotus and Lucian, speak only of women, not of virgins.(188) In Israel
also we know from Hosea that young married women prostituted themselves at
the sanctuaries on the hilltops under the shadow of the sacred oaks,
poplars, and terebinths.(189) The prophet makes no mention of virgins
participating in these orgies. They may have done so, but his language
does not imply it: he speaks only of “your daughters” and “your
daughters-in-law.” The prostitution of married women is wholly
inexplicable on the hypothesis here criticized. Yet it can hardly be
separated from the prostitution of virgins, which in some places at least
was carried on side by side with it.
(M42) (3) The theory fails to account for the repeated and professional
prostitution of women in Lydia, Pontus, Armenia, and apparently all over
Palestine.(190) Yet this habitual prostitution can in its turn hardly be
separated from the first prostitution in a woman’s life. Or are we to
suppose that the first act of unchastity is to be explained in one way and
all the subsequent acts in quite another? that the first act was purely
secular and all the subsequent acts purely religious?
(M43) (4) The theory fails to account for the _Ḳedeshim_ (“sacred men”)
side by side with the _Ḳedeshoth_ (“sacred women”) at the
sanctuaries;(191) for whatever the religious functions of these “sacred
men” may have been, it is highly probable that they were analogous to
those of the “sacred women” and are to be explained in the same way.
(M44) (5) On the hypothesis which I am considering we should expect to
find the man who deflowers the maid remunerated for rendering a dangerous
service; and so in fact we commonly find him remunerated in places where
the supposed custom is really practised.(192) But in Western Asia it was
just the contrary. It was the woman who was paid, not the man; indeed, so
well was she paid that in Lydia and Cyprus the girls earned dowries for
themselves in this fashion.(193) This clearly shows that it was the woman,
and not the man, who was believed to render the service. Or are we to
suppose that the man had to pay for rendering a dangerous service?(194)
These considerations seem to prove conclusively that whatever the remote
origin of these Western Asiatic customs may have been, they cannot have
been observed in historical times from any such motive as is assumed by
the hypothesis under discussion. At the period when we have to do with
them the customs were to all appearance purely religious in character, and
a religious motive must accordingly be found for them. Such a motive is
supplied by the theory I have adopted, which, so far as I can judge,
adequately explains all the known facts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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