Prostitutes fornicated with strangers in and around the temple precincts, in the city streets, squares and taverns, while highly specialized hierodules copulated with kings in beds elaborately prepared for sacred marriage rituals. This vision was largely derived from the 19th century view of ancient Mesopotamia as a forum of naive and primitive sexual freedom allowable before the Old Testament prophets imposed their more austere mores. The notion of Mesopotamia's sexual freedom … was anachronistically based in the 19th century version of it as an exclusively male preserve. Philologists and art historians read the unmarried women attested in cuneiform as prostitutes, sacred or secular…. Aside from the avant-garde, which was fast legitimizing erotica as a worthwhile academic pursuit, a number of historical “authorities,” unduly influenced scholars of the ancient Near East. Chief among them was Herodotus…. The deviancy of Mesopotamian sexual activity seemed confirmed by the Old Testament writers who accused idolaters of harlotry and adultery.