A Roman emperor has been branded transgender by a British museum provoking uproar among historians.
The North Hertfordshire Museum has decided to refer to the 3rd-century AD ruler Elagabalus as ‘she’ to be ‘sensitive’ to their pronoun preferences in a display.
The council-run museum in Hithcin, which consults with the LGBT charity Stonewall, owns a coin minted in the reign and uses it in LGBT-themed displays.
The decision is based off the account of Roman chronicler Cassius Dio, who claims that Elagabalus was ‘termed wife, mistress and queen’, told one lover ‘Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady’, and asked for female genitalia to be fashioned for him.
But Dio served the emperor Severus Alexander, who took the throne following the murder of Elagabalus, and historians believe the accounts were simply a character assassination.
The decision is based off the account of Roman chronicler Cassius Dio, who claims that Elagabalus (pictured parading on a chariot pulled by women) was ‘termed wife, mistress and queen’
The North Hertfordshire Museum has decided to refer to the 3rd-century AD ruler Elagabalus as ‘she’
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, a Cambridge classics professor, told the Telegraph: ‘The Romans didn’t have our idea of ‘trans’ as a category, but they used accusations of sexual behaviour ‘as a woman’ as one of the worst insults against men.’
Keith Hoskins, executive member for arts at North Herts Council, said: ‘Elagabalus most definitely preferred the ‘she’ pronoun and as such this is something we reflect when discussing her in contemporary times.’
The boy Emperor Elagabalus, had a monstrous reputation as a ruler and has drawn comparisons from scholars with better-known tyrants such as Caligula and Nero when it came to his wickedness and vice.
At one feast, he had several of his guests lashed to a water-wheel, which turned slowly and drowned them as their horrified fellow diners looked on. In another extraordinarily sadistic prank he released dozens of leopards and lions among his guests once they had finished eating.
On one occasion, he let poisonous snakes loose among the crowds at the gladiatorial games, causing widespread death and injury. And in still another example of his brutality, he threw gold and silver from a high tower, and watched as a mob of citizens fought to grab them, with many dying in the crush.
Elagabalus was also known to dress entirely in precious silks and draped himself with gems. The boy Emperor also apparently dreamt of surrounding himself with a new Roman senate composed entirely of women.
He was made an Emporer only thanks to the machinations of his grandmother, Julia Maesa, whose nephew Caracalla had been Emperor for eight years until he was stabbed to death by an army commander.
Determined that Rome should once again be ruled by a member of her family, Julia turned to her 14-year-old grandson Elagabalus, who was raised in the Syrian town of Emesa, a remote outpost of the Empire.
The boy Emperor Elagabalus , had a monstrous reputation as a ruler and has drawn comparisons from scholars with better-known tyrants such as Caligula and Nero when it came to his wickedness and vice
The North Hertfordshire Museum, owns a coin minted in Elagabalus’s reign and uses it in LGBT-themed displays
He is said to have been an extraordinarily handsome youth, with a short military haircut and bright eyes. Elagabalus had devoted his early years to the worship of the local sun god Elagabal, after whom he had been named.
Elagabalus was rumoured to have consulted his physicians about an early version of a sex-change operation, and he took a series of male lovers.
He was said to have spent his days in the company of women in his palace, singing, dancing, weaving and wearing a hairnet, eye make-up and rouge.
‘The soldiers were revolted at the sight of him,’ wrote one ancient historian. ‘With his face made up more elaborately than a modest woman, he was effeminately dressed up in golden necklaces and soft clothes, dancing for everyone to see in this state.’
Elagabalus was killed in March 222 AD, just four years into his reign, by his own solder who rebelled against his tyrannical ways.
