( Ihurch ( 1 Cor. v. 1 "sip ; 2 ( !or. xii. 21 : 1 Thess. iv. :i ; 1 Tim. i. lid. The apostolic decree in Acts xv. 20, 29 ( comp. xxi, 25), which has often been denounced as not genuine (Deyling, Obseiv. ii. 469 sip; Kuinol, Comment, p. ,'i21 Sq.), was Sufficiently called for by the character of the limes (comp. Tholuck, iii Meander's Denhdird. i. 143 sq.). The practice of prostitution was thin preva- lent, too. among the .lens, especially the higher classes (Rom. ii. 22; John viii. 7: see in general Michaelis, M os. Recht, v, 281 sq.). Winer. Among the Romans, the abominable practice of combining immorality with the worship of the g.,ds appears to have continued down to the days of Constant inc. as is evident from a passage in his life, written by Eusebius, where be men- tions it in connection with the temple of Venus at Apheca on Mount I.ibanus. Sacred prostitution forms a part in the religious rites of heathen nations both in ancient and modern times. Among the Phoenicians, Babylonians, and other Eastern nations, it was the cus- tom to erect adjoining the temples of their gods n -i- dences for courtesans, who were supposed to be pleasing to the deiiies. Strabo says that no fewer than 1000 of these abandoned females were attached to the temple of Aphrodite in Corinth, and were considered as an in- dispensable part of the retinue of the goddess. Among the Hindus we have the Linga worship (q.v. . See
also Adultery ; Fornication; Harlot; Sodomite.
Prostration. See Attitude.
Prostration in Prayer. See Posti re.
Protagoras {Upwrayopac), the first of that class of Greek philosophers who look the name of Sophists (q.v.), flourished near the opening ,,f the 5th century B.C. He was a native of Abdera, according to the concurrent testimony of Plato and several other wrih rs {Prolog, p. 309, c; In />',/,. x. p. bin;, c; Heraclides Pont. "/'. Diog. Laert. ix, .">•">; Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i, 2:!. etc.). There set ms to be no ground for the story that he was in early life employed in manual labor, nor for the supposition thai he was a disciple of I »i mocrilus, with whom in point of doctrine he had absolutely noth- ing in common. Protagoras mnsl have been older than Democritus, as it is certain thai Protagoras was older than Socrates, who was born B.C. 168 (Plato, Protag. p. ::i7. c: :;il. b; 361, e; comp. Diog. Laert. ix. 12, 56),
and died before him al I he age of nearly scvciil \ i Plato, !/•»". p. '.'1. e; comp. '///,, if. p. 171. d: 164, e; l.ii-
thyd. p. 286, c), after he had practiced the sophistic an for forty years in various Greek cities, especially ai Alliens. Frei places the death ol Protagoras in B.C. II I, assuming that Pythodorus accused him of teaching atheism during the govern me f the four Hundred
(Queest. Protag. p. 64), and accordingly assigns about B.C. 180 as the date of his birth.
Thai Protagoras had already acquired fame during his residence iii Abdera cannot be inferred from the
doubtful slalemenl lhal he was termed by ihe Ahderites Xi'yur. and by Denmcril us , ;,i\or„i. m or ami,/ ,, T'.liau. Var. Hist, iv, 20; comp. Suid. 8. vv. Tlpway. Anpoicp., etc Phavorinus, in Diog. Laert. ix. 50, gives to Pro- tagoras the designation of ao$(a)- He was the first
PROTAGORAS
607
PROTAGORAS
who called himself a sophist and taught for pay (Plato, Prolog, p. 349. a; Diog. Laert. ix, 52). He must have come to Athens before B.C. 445, since, according to the statement of Heraclides Ponticus (Diog. Laert. ix. 50), he gave laws to the Thurians, or, what is more proba- ble, adapted for the use of the new colonists, who left Athens for the first time in that year, the laws which had been drawn up at an earlier period by Charondas for the use of the Chalcidic colonies (for, according to Diod. xii. 11,3 and others, these laws were in force at Thurii likewise). Whether he himself removed to Thuiii, we do not learn, but at the time of the plague we rind him again in Athens, as he could scarcely have mentioned the strength of mind displayed by Pericles at the death of his sons in the way he does (in a fragment still extant, Plutarch, De Consul, ad A pull. c. xxxiii. p. 118, d) had he not been an eye-witness. He had also, as it appears, returned to Athens, after a long ab- sence (Plato, Pvotag, p. 301, c), at a time when the sons of Pericles were still alive (ibid. p. 314, e; 329, a). A somewhat intimate relation between Protagoras and Pericles is intimated also elsewhere (I'lut. Pericles, c. xxxvi, p. 172, a). His activity, however, was by no means restricted to Athens. He had spent some time in Sicily, and acquired fame there (Plato, Hipp. Maj. p. 282, d), and brought with him to Athens many admir- ers out of other Greek cities through which he had passed (Plato, Prutag. p. 315, a). He was accused of atheism by one of his scholars, and was consequently impeached for what he had written in his book On the Gods, which began with the statement, "Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist" (Diog. Laert. ix, 51, etc.). The impeachment was followed by his banishment (ibid, ix, 52; Cicero, De Nat. Dear, i, 23 ; Euseh. Prcep. Evang. xiv. 19, etc.), or, as others affirm, only by the burning of his book (Philost. Vit. Soph. 1. c. ; Josephus, C. Apian, ii, 37; Sext. Emp. Adv. Math, ix, 50: Cicero, Diog. Laert. II. cc). Ueberweg says that it would seem Protagoras left for Sicily after his condemnation and was lost at sea (Hist. ofPhilos. i, 74).