characteristic in this respect. A "slave" of the
Syrian goddess in that inscription offers his homage to his "mistress"
([Greek: kuria]).

40. Notably at Aphaca where they were not suppressed until the time of
Constantine (Eusebius, _Vit. Const._, III, 55; cf. Sozom., II, 5).

41. Much has been written about the sacred prostitutions in paganism, and
it is well known that Voltaire ridiculed the scholars who were credulous
enough to believe in the tales of Herodotus. But this practice has been
proven by {247} irrefutable testimony. Strabo, for instance, whose
great-uncle was arch-priest of Comana, mentions it in connection with that
city, (XII, 3, 36, p. 559 C), and he manifests no surprise. The history of
religion teaches many stranger facts; this one, however, is disconcerting.
The attempt has been made to see in it a relic of the primitive promiscuity
or polyandry, or a persistence of "sexual hospitality," ("No custom is more
widely spread than the providing for a guest a female companion, who is
usually a wife or daughter of the host," says Wake, _Serpent Worship_,
1888, p. 158); or the substitution of union with a man for union with the
god (Gruppe, _Griech. Mythol._, p. 915). But these hypotheses do not
explain the peculiarities of the religious custom as it is described by
more reliable authors. They insist upon the fact that the girls were
dedicated to the temple service while _virgins_, and that after having had
_strangers_ for lovers, they married in their own country. Thus Strabo (XI,
14, Sec. 16, p. 532 C.) narrates in connection with the temple of Anaitis in
Acilisena, that [Greek: thugateras hoi epiphanestatoi tou ethnous anierousi
parthenous, ais nomos esti kataporneutheisais polun chronon para tei theoi
meta tauta didosthai pros gamon, ouk apaxiountos tei toiautei sunoikein
oudenos]. Herodotus (I, 93), who relates about the same thing of the Lydian
women, adds that they acquired a dowry in that manner; an inscription at
Tralles (_Bull. corr. hell._, VII, 1885, p. 276) actually mentions a
descendant of a sacred prostitute ([Greek: ek progonon pallakidon]) who had
temporarily filled the same office ([Greek: pallakeusasa kata chresmon
Dii]). Even at Thebes in Egypt there existed a similar custom with striking
local peculiarities in the time of Strabo (XVII, 1, Sec. 46), and traces of it
seem to have been found in Greece among the Locrians (Vurtheim, _De Aiacis
origine_, Leyden, 1907). Every Algerian traveler