When the Goddesses Took Off Their Tops: Striptease Before Our Era

When I was still working at the club, clients liked to ask: "How long have you been doing this?" I would usually raise an eyebrow and say: "Well, if you count from Ancient Egypt, then a very long time ago." They would laugh. But I didn't. Because, sarcasm aside, it's almost true.

I approach everything analytically. Yes, don't laugh - despite my profession, I am a historian by education and a researcher by life, so one fine morning after a shift at the club I thought: are we, like, the first people who like to dance in underwear for cash?

Spoiler: before us there was Mesopotamia. And believe me, they were just as hot there.

Egypt: pyramids, pharaohs and the first striptease

Imagine: it's 2025 BC, a hot evening on the banks of the Nile. You are all covered in gold jewelry, dressed in light transparent fabric and performing at a festival in honor of the goddess Hathor - she is the patroness of love, wine and fun. That is, almost my sister in spirit.

One difference, dancing at that time was not just "sex selling", as they like to say on our Internet, but a whole ritual. Women - priestesses or concubines - danced not to get cash in their panties, but to please the gods, bring fertility or, in extreme cases, cheer up the pharaoh. Well, yes, and the pharaohs, of course, liked it when girls danced in jewelry and bare-breasted. But in general, it was more of a cult, none of the vulgarity that is usual for us.

That is, when I go on stage in 2025 (already, however, in our era), I, consider, continue the ancient tradition. Only in the hall there is not a pharaoh, but a drunk Vadik from a bachelor party, and no one is particularly worried about fertility either.

Mesopotamia: striptease in the temple used to be legal

Mesopotamia is the mother of all civilizations and, it seems, the first place where they understood: a naked female body = a powerful magical tool. At that time, priestesses of the goddess Ishtar were popular (straightforward OnlyFans stars of that time), and these girls already knew that life is good for those who know how to turn a man on (and please the gods a little, but that's, of course, poetry).

Some sources (yes, I read historical articles) claim that strip dancing was part of a sacred ritual. Everything was serious there: a temple, a crowd, smoke, a naked woman on stage - and this is not a performance by Lady Gaga, this is an ancient religion. Imagine a concert where the entrance ticket is a prayer. On the one hand - beauty, mysticism, energy. On the other - the same lustful men who want to "get to know each other a little better". Only the pretext changes, the essence remains the same.

China: silk, fans and a hidden vibe

And now to Ancient China, where everything was subtle, refined and under the sauce of culture. Girls in palaces danced in long silk dresses, and although there was no "oops, took off her top", eroticism was present - just veiled. Fans, smooth movements, a look from under the eyelashes.

Honestly, I could use such an approach. When you do the "cat" on the pole for the fortieth time that night, you just want to twirl your fan and disappear into the fog. But in our club, the fog is at most a smoke machine, and that's if it hasn't broken.

Greece: the formation of escort services

Hetaeras are not just "prostitutes with charisma". These were women who could make small talk, sing, play instruments and, yes, dance, sometimes undress. Basically, do everything that is written in the profile of a modern escort. But the main (and fundamental) difference is that they were respected. They hung out with Socrates and Plato, and did not entertain sheikhs at closed parties, they were accompanied by personal security, and were not thrown out the door of a hotel room in the morning.

Dancing took place at symposiums - it was like a cool party for the elite, but in the ancient Greek style: wine flowed freely, men in togas, and you were one of the invited guests. Beautiful, stylish, smart. Although, I have an assumption that by the morning everything rolled down to sex for money, but this is just my guess. I want to believe that at that time there really was a heyday of respect for women.

Rome: Bread, Circuses, and a Little Bit of Crying

And then the Romans came. And if the Greeks were still trying to pretend that "this is just an escort," the Romans said: "Pfft, let's just have fun and call a spade a spade." In Rome, there were strip shows, private dances, and half-naked girls ready to stay until the morning. Girls, however, were not always respected. More often, they were perceived as decoration, and the continuation was already something self-evident. However, here they were not at all shy in expressions and desires. Imagine a time machine and Ancient Rome would become a popular tourist destination for married men, well, just to relax.

So what was it: art or vulgarity?

Who knows. For some, it was a sacred dance. For others, it was just a reason to get stuck. And for the dancers themselves? Probably, it was a way to survive. To express themselves. Or just to be needed in a world where men and gods decide everything.

Of course, I'm not a priestess of Ishtar. But when you're standing on stage, covered in glitter, the music is blaring, and you're moving as if the harvest of all of Mesopotamia depended on it, you feel like you're part of something bigger. Even if this "bigger" is just a Friday night show.