A museum in the United Kingdom has declared that a third-century Roman emperor was “transgender,” according to multiple reports.
Going forward, the North Hertfordshire Museum will refer to Elagabalus using “she/her” pronouns. Elagabalus reigned as a teenager and was killed when he was 18 in the year 222 A.D.
According to BBC, a museum spokesperson said it was "only polite and respectful to be sensitive to identifying pronouns for people in the past.” A coin of Elagabalus is on display at the museum displayed with “other LGBTQ+ items” (via BBC):
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known as Elagabalus, ruled the Roman empire for just four years from 218AD to his assassination, aged 18, in 222AD.
He became an increasingly controversial figure over his short reign, developing a reputation for sexual promiscuity.
Cassius Dio, a senator and contemporary of Elagabalus, writes in his historical chronicles that the emperor was married five times - four times to women, and once to Hiercoles, a former slave and chariot driver.
In this final marriage, Dio writes that the emperor "was bestowed in marriage and was termed wife, mistress and queen".
Dr. Shushma Malik, a professor at Cambridge, told BBC that “the historians we use to try and understand the life of Elagabalus are extremely hostile towards him, and therefore cannot be taken at face value. We don't have any direct evidence from Elagabalus himself of his own words.”
"There are many examples in Roman literature of times where effeminate language and words were used as a way of criticising or weakening a political figure,” Malik added. "References to Elagabalus wearing makeup, wigs and removing body hair may have been written in order to undermine the unpopular emperor."
Reportedly, some texts claim that Elagabalus one said, “call me not Lord, for I am a Lady.”
This isn’t the first time in recent years that some have “relabed” a historical figure in this sort of way. Matt covered how uproar ensued after a theater production in London portrayed Joan of Arc, a Catholic saint, as “non-binary.”
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