THE CULT OF APHRODITE IN CORINTH

Ancient Corinth was a prosperous town in antiquity. There were basically three reasons for this. First and foremost, its strategic location at the Isthmus made it a vital center of commerce for all goods requiring a speedy transport from Greece’s West Coast to its East Coast or Athens. While there was no channel, despite some courageous efforts even by the Romans, the city had two harbors and the goods were transported across the land on the Diolkos, a road connecting the two bodies of water. This created a lucrative trade business and filled the city’s coffers with tariffs and brought many sailors and merchants into town. The second source of income was the Isthmus Games, which were the precursors to the Olympic Games. Athletes from all over Greece would participate in these city-organized games. Just as today, these events brought many visitors to the city, a lot of which were housed in temporary tents.

Finally, Corinth has been known in the ancient world as a place of loose morals. This reputation stemmed partially from the infamous temple of Aphrodite and its alleged 1,000 prostitutes, who were an attraction to sailors and merchants, and who also paid their share of a tax to the government (in Roman times). While the combination of all three factors made the city economically viable, it is the cult and temple of Aphrodite which we will examine here in more detail.

Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. She had a following big enough that it can be described as a cult; at least in Greek times, not so much in Roman times. In fact, there was even an annual festival called the Aphrodisia, which was held all over ancient Greece and Corinth was one of its main stays. Priests would honor the goddess with a variety of ceremonies, including ritual baths of statues of Aphrodite. Given all this support, Corinth needed a special place to worship the goddess.

In the 6th century BC, the statesman Solon set up a tax for prostitutes in Corinth. The money was used to build the first temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth. This temple was likely built around the fifth century BC. Very little is known about it except that Strabo, a Greek historian who lived from 64 BC to AD 24, stated that it was bigger than the second temple. In 146 BC, the Romans destroyed Corinth and with it, the temple on the Acrocorinth. It was Julius Caesar who ordered Corinth and the temple to be rebuilt in 44 BC. Unfortunately, two earthquakes subsequently destroyed much of Corinth in AD 365 and AD 376 and thus, all we have left today are the foundations. They indicate a square temple of less than fifty feet in length. The only depiction we have of Aphrodite’s second temple on the Acrocorinth are from two Roman coins. But images on coins are often gross simplifications and more of a symbolic character.

From the Greek geographer Pausanias who lived in the second century, we learned that behind the temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth (in contrast to her temple in the city) there was a spring, which was fed by the same water that also supported the famous fountain of Peirene near the forum. It was this second temple about which Strabo also wrote “that over a thousand hetaerai were employed by the temple”. This comment started the misconception that these one thousand (if we want to take this figure verbatim as opposed to not just an expression of many) prostitutes were working in the temple, but Strabo never said that. He makes it clear, that they work for the temple. In other words, they provided their services around the town of Corinth, which makes a lot more sense than the idea that the patrons would climb up the steep mountain to visit the temple for their pleasure. Given the small footprint of the ruins found today, it is simply unrealistic that this building once hosted 1,000 prostitutes on the Acrocorinth.

Strabo also tells us that “the 1,000 prostitutes were donated to the temple”. This means that wealthy citizens donated their slaves to the temple of Aphrodite. For the rich citizens, this was an offering to their goddess; for the temple, this was a great way to fill its coffers as these prostitutes now were working on behalf of the temple. For the prostitutes this might have been a slight improvement to their situation as now they were under less control and could likely keep some of the income they made. Obviously not ideal, but possibly better than being a slave of a family (which also included being there to satisfy all wishes of their owners).

Given the involvement of the prostitutes with the temple of Aphrodite, it should not come as a big surprise that she also was their people lived there in the first century. This helped also in revitalizing the cult of Aphrodite, or Venus as the Romans called her. Scholars debated whether there was a fertility cult associated with Aphrodite in the sense that these one thousand servants might have been promiscuous as part of their religious beliefs. But there is no evidence to support that idea and, in general, it is more likely that this was rather a practical arrangement, where these prostitutes created a regular income for the temple and the city.

If there ever was a fertility cult, it would have been in the early years of Greek antiquity, but we do not have a record of it. What we have found from the early years is the so-called tavern of Aphrodite (there are also ruins of the baths of Aphrodite, but they date to more recent history and thus have nothing to do with antiquity). It was destroyed in the fourth century BC when it had to make way for the Southern Stoa of the Agora. Its remains were excavated in 1938.

The layout of the ruins clearly suggest that this building was a tavern. The many cups, which have been found in this place, further support this theory. Interesting details found were a lowered stage, a tank and a niche in a wall, where likely some shrine or statue was located. The stage and the tank point toward some religious activities in line with the ritual baths given to statues of the goddess. Fitting with this theory are also the over 150 figurines found in the tavern. Many of these figurines had been deliberately burned and many of them had a likeness of Aphrodite, so it is a short step to conclude that this was a place where this goddess was indeed worshipped. These findings also nicely fit the pattern of other known taverns where Aphrodite was the focus of attention. Discovering such a place in the center of a city known for worshipping the goddess makes this hypothesis all the more likely.

Given the bad reputation of the city (the reputation was so bad that the term “to corinthianize” was created for hedonistic behavior), it is ironic that one of the most ardent followers of Jesus Christ would select it as one of his main bases for doing his work. The Apostle Paul stayed in Corinth the longest during his missionary journeys through Greece in the first century. His trade as a tent maker gave him a regular income to support himself.

More importantly, in Corinth he found one of the more liberal cities of antiquity which was thus more welcoming to the leader of a new religion. Here, he was tolerated to proselytize to the Jews and gentiles alike. This was very different from the more conservative and rural places where he was normally thrown out or even beaten and sent to jail. In fact, it was in Corinth where the Proconsul Gallio legally approved his proselytizing; a watershed moment that set a precedent in the expansion of a nascent religion.

Of course, the apostle was outraged about the sinful behavior he encountered in Corinth and he had little tolerance for any Christians seeking the services of prostitutes. Scholars have been debating whether his words were targeting followers of the cult of Aphrodite, but that interpretation seems too generous and there really is no evidence that such a cult survived into the Roman era.

PROSTITUTION IN ANTIQUITY

Prostitution was tolerated by the Greek and Roman societies and it was legal; in fact, starting in the first century AD, prostitutes were even taxed. For each day of service, they had to pay a given amount independent of how many clients they saw that day. Prostitutes were often slaves and could be female or male. There were different levels in the hierarchy of the prostitutes, in Greek as well as during Roman times.

Aside from the regular prostitutes (known as pornai) who worked in brothels and bars, there were the more educated courtesans (aka hetaerai) who would see a more regular clientele and stay with them. Since they were of a higher standard and manners, they would also accompany rich men to events, not unlike today’s escort services.

In fact, archaeologists have found an inscription at a seat in the theatre of ancient Corinth that stated, “that it belongs to the girls”. It is safe to assume that this was a reserved seat for a courtesan escort. This also shows us, that not all prostitution took place in brothels. Some women worked big events at the amphitheaters and regular theaters, others paid house visits, and many worked in bars as part time waitresses offering additional services in rooms above the tavern. Roman baths were known meeting places for prostitutes and their patrons.

In regard to the looks of prostitutes, there are some misconceptions that we need to clarify. The first is concerning their hair. Some scholars thought they either had shaved heads or short hair. However, when we look at some of the frescos from Pompeii’s infamous brothel, we can clearly see that neither was the case. Then there is the question whether reputable women distinguished themselves from prostitutes by covering their hair. Again, when we look at portraits, mosaics, frescos and statues of the time, the majority of women were not covering their heads, so this too seems to be an unsubstantiated claim.

Regarding clothing, we do know that Emperor Augustus mandated prostitutes to wear togas as opposed to stolas, which were reserved for regular women. Whether that was followed, we do not know as inside the brothels, prostitutes often wore no clothes at all.

Speaking of brothels, let us wrap up this discourse with some comments about Spintriae. The purpose of the Spintriae coins has not yet been fully discovered. Some scholars believe they were service tokens for brothels where a client would buy the act shown on the coin. Others believe they could have been used outside the sex trade altogether as gaming coins. Three facts seem to support this latter hypothesis. First, none of these coins were found in the brothels in Pompeii, and second, they carry Roman numerals from 1 to 16 on the reverse, which would make them useful in any kind of game board from antiquity. Finally, some of these coins actually depicted government officials as well as various figures, e.g., the goddess of grain, Ceres, which makes them definitely not fit for use in brothels. The word “spintria” is a Latin slang for homosexuals and was a name given to this coin by numismatics in the 17th century. We do not know what these coins were originally called.

Written by Andreas Forrer in "History Magazine", USA, December 2018/January 2019, excerpts pp. 47-50. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.