Was this Roman Emperor trans?
A museum in England has announced it will be updating its display on Roman emperor Elagabalus after determining she was a trans woman.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was better known by nicknames Elagabalus and Heliogabalus and ruled the Roman Empire between 218 and 222. Across her short reign, she was notorious for sex scandals and religious controversies and took power when she was only a teenager.
The daughter of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus, she had one child during her short life, Severus Alexander, with Aquilia Severa. She died at the age of 18, just four years after she took rule, after being assassinated.
Now, the North Hertfordshire Museum will refer to Elagabalus with the pronouns she/her after it was found that a classical text reported that the leader said: “Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady.”
And, according to OutHistory, Elagabalus offered “half” the Roman Empire to the “surgeon that would correct her genitalia”.
The Museum, which is just north of London, has one coin of Elagabalus in its collection, which is often displayed alongside other historical items relating to LGBTQ+ identity.
A spokesperson from the charity said: “We try to be sensitive to identifying pronouns for people in the past, as we are for people in the present. It is only polite and respectful.”
