WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Similar rites were practised by the Egyptians, the Romans, in the worship of Priapus, the Corinthians, and among the priestesses of Cyprus.
In Lydia it was the custom of girls to prostitute themselves for the purpose of securing a marriage-portion. Frazer is of the opinion that this was a development of sacred prostitution. At first the money is offered to the god, but later it is used by the woman as a marriage-portion. The practice survives to this day in Japan.[1]
The secularisation of prostitution followed gradually upon the decay of religious and symbolic prostitution among the Eastern nations. Once a ceremony of holy and solemn import, it degenerated into a mere traffic for money, and is now a commercial institution of every monogamous country.
In the harems of Babylon, the wives held considerable power and high status. Nor were the concubines the mere chattels of their masters. The Hammurabi Code had important clauses respecting the treatment of inferior wives. If a man determined to dismiss a concubine, he was compelled to pay her "the usufruct of field, garden, and goods," to maintain and educate her children. A bride put away on the ground of sterility, or for another cause, was entitled to the price
- ↑ See chapter on "Japan."
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