Sources. The only explicit references to woman accepting money in return for sex in ancient Egypt date after 450 B.C.E. Other references to "temple prostitutes" are either ambiguous or depend on the Greek understanding of Egyptian customs. These sources may be reliable or may reflect a projection of Greek customs onto Egyptian culture.

Priestesses. Two titles of priestesses might refer to women who had sexual intercourse with the priest who imitated the god in rituals. The "God's Wife" might have played the sexual role of a spouse during the "Sacred Marriage" between the god Amun and his wife. It is difficult to know how literally the title should be taken. The title "God's Hand" refers to the priestess who either literally or ritually re-enacted the creation of the world with a priest who represented the god Atum, who had created the...