The amount of dumb ideas I ponder through the day with too much time on my hands is mind blowing.
There’s a saying that prostitution is the world's oldest profession. Might well be true. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian from around 450BC often referred to as "The Father of History", wrote down a few passages about prostitutes and prostitution in ancient times in his book
The Histories.
Here’s one passage:
There are not in Lydia many marvelous things for me to tell of, if it be compared with other countries, except the gold dust that comes down from Tmolus. But there is one building to be seen there which is more notable than any, saving those of Egypt and Babylon. There is in Lydia the tomb of Alyattes the father of Croesus, the base whereof is made of great stones and the rest of it of mounded earth. It was built by the men of the market and the artificers and the prostitutes. There remained till my time five corner-stones set on the top of the tomb, and on these was graven the record of the work done by each kind: and measurement showed that the prostitutes’ share of the work was the greatest. All the daughters of the common people of Lydia ply the trade of prostitutes, to collect dowries, till they can get themselves husbands; and they offer themselves in marriage.
And another one:
The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land once in her life to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to consort with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and there stand with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the stranger men pass and make their choice.
When a woman has once taken her place there she goes not away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I demand thee in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). It matters not what be the sum of the money; the woman will never refuse, for that were a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects none. After their intercourse she has made herself holy in the goddess’s sight and goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfill the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like to this in some parts of Cyprus.
I tried to find some interesting movie titles dealing with this theme at Mr. Skin, but there weren’t that many movies tagged for this term. So, I did a little google search and came up with a list of
Top 100 Prostitution Movies, among others: