Hierodules, Corinth, Aphrodite, and SacrificeHierodules, Corinth, Aphrodite, and 
Sacrifice
In a discussion of the term hierodule or temple slave, on 11/8/02 10:54 AM, 
Leigh Ann Hussey wrote:
> When in doubt, consult the source.
>http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2350035
The rest of this file consists of materials concerning this subject, quoted from 
Leigh Ann's link at the Perseus Project. Strabo's writing discusses temple 
prostitution in Corinth and elsewhere. His Geography is available in English 
translation. The quotes here are for educational purposes. -- VH
hiero-doulos , ho, hê, temple-slave, PCair.Zen.451 (iii B.C.), PHib.1.35.3 (iii 
B.C.), UPZ34.13 (ii B.C.), PTeb.6.25 (ii B.C.), SIG996.29 (Smyrna), 
BMus.Inscr.986.4 (Cyprus), OGI383.174 (Nemrud Dagh, i B.C.), etc.; neôkoroi kai 
hi.Ph.2.420; of the Nethinim, LXX 1 Es.1.2, al.; esp. of temple courtesans at 
Corinth and elsewhere, Str.8.6.20, 6.2.6; also of men, Id.11.4.7, al.
Strabo, Geography, 8.6.20-1
[20] Corinth is called "wealthy" because of its commerce, since it is situated 
on the Isthmus and is master of two harbors, of which the one leads straight to 
Asia, and the other to Italy; and it makes easy the exchange of merchandise from 
both countries that are so far distant from each other. And just as in early 
times the Strait of Sicily was not easy to navigate, so also the high seas, and 
particularly the sea beyond Maleae, were not, on account of the contrary winds; 
and hence the proverb, "But when you double Maleae, forget your home." At any 
rate, it was a welcome alternative, for the merchants both from Italy and from 
Asia, to avoid the voyage to Maleae and to land their cargoes here. And also the 
duties on what by land was exported from the Peloponnesus and what was imported 
to it fell to those who held the keys. And to later times this remained ever so.
But to the Corinthians of later times still greater advantages were added, for 
also the Isthmian Games, which were celebrated there, were wont to draw crowds 
of people. And the Bacchiadae, a rich and numerous and illustrious family, 
became tyrants of Corinth, and held their empire for nearly two hundred years, 
and without disturbance reaped the fruits of the commerce; and when Cypselus 
overthrew these, he himself became tyrant, and his house endured for three 
generations; and an evidence of the wealth of this house is the offering which 
Cypselus dedicated at Olympia, a huge statue of beaten gold. Again, Demaratus, 
one of the men who had been in power at Corinth, fleeing from the seditions 
there, carried with him so much wealth from his home to Tyrrhenia that not only 
he himself became the ruler of the city that admitted him, but his son was made 
king of the Romans.
And the temple of Aphrodite was so rich that it owned more than a thousand 
temple slaves, courtesans, whom both men and women had dedicated to the goddess. 
And therefore it was also on account of these women that the city was crowded 
with people and grew rich; for instance, the ship captains freely squandered 
their money, and hence the proverb, "Not for every man is the voyage to 
Corinth." Moreover, it is recorded that a certain courtesan said to the woman 
who reproached her with the charge that she did not like to work or touch wool: 
"Yet, such as I am, in this short time I have taken down three webs."
[21] The situation of the city, as described by Hieronymus and Eudoxus and 
others, and from what I myself saw after the recent restoration of the city by 
the Romans, is about as follows: A lofty mountain with a perpendicular height of 
three stadia and one half, and an ascent of as much as thirty stadia, ends in a 
sharp peak; it is called Acrocorinthus, and its northern side is the steepest; 
and beneath it lies the city in a level, trapezium-shaped place close to the 
very base of the Acrocorinthus.
Now the circuit of the city itself used to be as much as forty stadia, and all 
of it that was unprotected by the mountain was enclosed by a wall; and even the 
mountain itself, the Acrocorinthus, used to be comprehended within the circuit 
of this wall wherever wall-building was possible, and when I went up the 
mountain the ruins of the encircling wall were plainly visible. And so the whole 
perimeter amounted to about eighty-five stadia.
On its other sides the mountain is less steep, though here too it rises to a 
considerable height and is conspicuous all round. Now the summit has a small 
temple of Aphrodite; and below the summit is the spring Peirene, which, although 
it has no overflow, is always full of transparent, potable water. And they say 
that the spring at the base of the mountain is the joint result of pressure from 
this and other subterranean veins of water--a spring which flows out into the 
city in such quantity that it affords a fairly large supply of water. And there 
is a good supply of wells throughout the city, as also, they say, on the 
Acrocorinthus; but I myself did not see the latter wells.
At any rate, when Euripides says, "I am come, having left Acrocorinthus that is 
washed on all sides, the sacred hill-city of Aphrodite," one should take "washed 
on all sides" as meaning in the depths of the mountain, since wells and 
subterranean pools extend through it, or else should assume that in early times 
Peirene was wont to rise over the surface and flow down the sides of the 
mountain.
And here, they say, Pegasus, a winged horse which sprang from the neck of the 
Gorgon Medusa when her head was cut off, was caught while drinking by 
Bellerophon. And the same horse, it is said, caused Hippu-crene to spring up on 
Helicon when he struck with his hoof the rock that lay below that mountain. And 
at the foot of Peirene is the Sisypheium, which preserves no inconsiderable 
ruins of a certain temple, or royal palace, made of white marble.
And from the summit, looking towards the north, one can view Parnassus and 
Helicon--lofty, snow-clad mountains--and the Crisaean Gulf, which lies at the 
foot of the two mountains and is surrounded by Phocis, Boeotia, and Megaris, and 
by the parts of Corinthia and Sicyonia which lie across the gulf opposite to 
Phocis, that is, towards the west. And above all these countries lie the Oneian 
Mountains, as they are called, which extend as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron from 
the Sceironian Rocks, that is, from the road that leads along these rocks 
towards Attica.
Strabo, Geography, 6.2.6
Eryx [in Sicily], a lofty hill, is also inhabited. It has a temple of Aphrodite 
that is held in exceptional honor, and in early times was full of female 
temple-slaves, who had been dedicated in fulfillment of vows not only by the 
people of Sicily but also by many people from abroad; but at the present time, 
just as the settlement itself, so the temple is in want of men, and the 
multitude of temple-slaves has disappeared. In Rome, also, there is a 
reproduction of this goddess, I mean the temple before the Colline Gate which is 
called that of Venus Erycina and is remarkable for its shrine and surrounding 
colonnade.
Strabo, Geography, 11.4.7
[7] As for gods, they [Albanians] honor Helius, Zeus, and Selene, but especially 
Selene; her temple is near Iberia. The office of priest is held by the man who, 
after the king, is held in highest honor; he has charge of the sacred land, 
which is extensive and well-populated, and also of the temple slaves, many of 
whom are subject to religious frenzy and utter prophecies. And any one of those 
who, becoming violently possessed, wanders alone in the forests, is by the 
priest arrested, bound with sacred fetters, and sumptuously maintained during 
that year, and then led forth to the sacrifice that is performed in honor of the 
goddess, and, being anointed, is sacrificed along with other victims. The 
sacrifice is performed as follows: Some person holding a sacred lance, with 
which it is the custom to sacrifice human victims, comes forward out of the 
crowd and strikes the victim through the side into the heart, he being not 
without experience in such a task; and when the victim falls, they draw auguries 
from his fall and declare them before the public; and when the body is carried 
to a certain place, they all trample upon it, thus using it as a means of 
purification.