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πορνεύονται. Many see in this custom a religious significance, e. g. Ramsay, C. and B. pp. 94-5, 115; Radet compares the worship of Mylitta (c. 199 nn.), a view which is supported by Aelian, V. H. iv. 1, and Strabo, 532, who definitely compares the Lydian custom to that in the temple of Anaitis in Armenian Acilisene—noble maidens κατα- πορνευθεισας πολὺν χρόνον παρὰ τῇ θεῷ, μετὰ ταῦτα δίδοσθαι πρὸς γάμον, οὐκ ἀπαξιοῦντος οὐδενός. Ramsay quotes an inscription of the second century A. D., as to a woman of considerable position, παλλακεύσασα καὶ κατὰ χρησμόν, and no doubt such religious prostitution had been more common in early times. But there is no good evidence that it was ever universal in Lydia; and the custom itself may be paralleled in countries of quite different religions, e. g. in Japan. L. Oliphant (Lord Elgin's Mission (1857-9) ii. 496 says: ‘No disgrace attaches to women who have been brought up in this manner (i.e. as courtesans), and they generally make good marriages.’ No doubt the custom in Lydia was mainly confined to the lower classes, who may have been of a different race (cf. App. I, § 4). For freedom of choice in marriage cf. Westermarck, c. 10.

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