65 BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGY.ORG SPRING 2023 Paul, Prostitutes, and the Cult of Aphrodite in Corinth BARBETTE STANLEY SPAETH IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6, Paul addresses sexual misconduct among the mem- bers of the early Christian community, singling out those who frequented prostitutes (pornai). He states that the body of a Christian should not be joined with that of a prostitute (porne), explaining that the Christian body is a temple of the Holy Spirit bought for a price, that is, Jesus’s sufering and death, implicitly contrasting the Chris- tian body with that of a prostitute, bought for a paltry sum. Tis striking juxtaposition of prostitute, temple, and payment for the body has led some to think that Paul had in mind sacred prostitution, the performance of sex acts for payment connected with the worship of a divinity, as practiced in Roman Corinth. But what is the evidence for this? Te main source is a passage about Corinth by the Greek geographer Strabo from the frst century BCE/CE: “Te sanctuary of Aphrodite was so rich that it had more than one thousand female sacred servants (hierodoulai), courtesans (hetairai) whom both men and women used to dedicate to the goddess” (Geography 8.6.20). Tese “sacred servants” and “courtesans” have been interpreted as female slaves belonging to the god- dess Aphrodite (or Venus, her Roman counterpart), who performed ritual sex acts for payment to the cult. Later, Strabo notes that “the top of Acrocorinth has a small temple of Aphrodite” (8.6.21). Since this is the only Corinthian sanctuary of the god- dess that the geographer mentions, it is often assumed that the practice occurred here. Tere are many problems with this view. First, the context of the frst pas- sage indicates that Strabo is talking about Greek Corinth in the seventh century BCE, not the Roman city of his own time. Second, at no point does he refer to ritual sex acts or to payment for them received by the sanctuary. He rather confusingly calls the women involved both hierodoulai and hetairai. Hierodoulai refers to women who served the goddess in a variety of ways, including as high-status religious of- cials. Hetairai literally means “female companions,” that is, the courtesans who entertained at elite banquets, not common prostitutes, pornai, the term that Paul uses. Finally, although Strabo says these women were hetairai when they were dedicated, he does not say they continued in this profession once they became attached to the sanctuary. All these issues cast doubt on the idea that either he or Paul was referring to sacred prostitution as practiced in Corinth, at least in their own time. Perhaps, however, they had in mind such a practice from the earlier Greek GLENN J. CORBETT CORINTH. View (above) of Acrocorinth with the ruins of the Temple of Apollo from Corinth in the foreground. CLASSICAL CORNER