Like anything, a lack of a willingness to understand beyond our own beliefs (taught or otherwise) breeds fear and thereon damnation. We could question if then we are not all escorts, but not all by profession-the space in between these two escortions is where the miscommunication adding to societal problems lie.
An escort is then simply a temporary companion. The term escort means to accompany another. Without forgetting acknowledgement towards a dark history of abuse, on all levels, that continues to run vulnerably in parallel to this subject, the world of escorts also has another side to it. Because of this, hetairas were a luxury only the wealthy could afford. They went far beyond sexual desires, they offered a deeper intimacy and experience. There was a ‘pornê’ who offered her pleasures behind closed doors, and there were the ‘hetaira’, who other than offered sex, also entertained guests with poetry, music or dance. There were two types of sensual services in most cultures around the fourth century BC. Thus, in a sense, prostitution was legal and socially accepted. At that time, marriage had nothing to do with love, it was a business arrangement between two families. Some academics shush the history and claim it to be false, others disagree boldly even in the midst of religious feuds, but to avoid going into this, we will fast forward and discuss what happened next. There was a famous call girl called Messalina, who went on to become empress after marrying the Emperor Claudis. Rome’s street prostitutes charged what was then four aces, the equivalent of about 10 euros or 14 dollars now. There were also ‘flute girls’ that offered to play their aulos, an ancient Greek wind instrument, for their customers before offering a little extra.
In ancient times, women wearing garish makeup and yellow shawls advertised their charms at the foot of Acropolis, Athens. The Bible calls them “lemans” or “catamites.” There are about a dozen passages in the Old Testament that revolve around Qadeshes, which is a word for female and male cult practitioners. Over the years, many cultures are believed to have taken part in similarly nefarious activities-the Persians on the Black Sea and tribes from Sicily to Thebes also indulged. All women in the country were required to sit in the temple and expose themselves to a stranger in return for money. The historian Herodotus who is estimated to have lived between 490 to 425 Before Christ (BC), wrote of the ‘ugliest custom’ in Babylon, which was the widespread practice of prostitution in the Temple of Ishtar. According to their beliefs, this was the goddess of love and war who was born a virgin each day and, as the day went on, would then transform into a ‘whore’ by evening-the root of this word means desire.
They also worshiped a goddess called Ishtar. Sumerians, which were located in Mesopotamia (a historical region of western Asia situated within the Tigris and Euphrates river system) was the first known complex civilisation that developed the first city-states around 4000 Before the Common Era (BCE). Escort Babylon, where did the term come from?