In a letter in the May/June 2005 issue, Lynne Norris asks, “Can’t we find a term other than ‘prostitution’ to refer to a sexual activity that is part of a religious practice?” She suggests that the young women who performed sex at a temple at Pompeii (see “The First Days of Pompeii,” 08:01) may have been serving as priestesses.

Many years ago Morton Smith of Columbia University suggested that the women who engage in these temple rites be called “lay sisters.”