The North Hertfordshire Museum, located in a town called Hitchin north of London, has declared the Roman Emperor Elagabalus as Transgender and will use the "appropriate" pronouns when referring to the ruler.
This decision follows the museum's policy of applying pronouns in the descriptions of the displays that "the individual in question might have used themselves," according to a report by the Telegraph.
The UK museum is in possession of a coin produced during the rule of Elagabalus from 218 until 222 AD. Elagabalus' reign was shortlived due to being assassinated at 18 years old. The coin has also been a part of the museum's LGBTQ-themed collection.
In order to ensure that its publicities are "up-to-date," the British museum reportedly consults the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall and the trade union Unison's LGBT wing.
Circa 215 AD, The Roman Emperor Elagabalus, (204 - 222), (Emperor Heliogabalus), Emperor from 218. Born Varius Avitus Bassianus, but he took the name of the sun god Elagabal.
The Texts That Support the Museum's Decision
In a statement, Keith Hoskins, executive member for Enterprise and Arts at North Herts Council, shared that Elagabalus "most definitely preferred the 'she' pronoun," and that is something that the museum takes into consideration when talking about the emperor today.
"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," Hoskins added before he continued by mentioning that Elagabalus "identified as a woman" and has "explicitly" chosen which pronouns to use.
Hoskins was referring to the chronicles written by Cassius Dio, who wrote about the history of Rome. In Dio's writing, it was found that Elagabalus was "termed wife, mistress, and Queen," and the emperor had also told one lover, "Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady." In addition, Elagabalus had apparently even requested the creation of a "female genitalia" for her.
Debates Surrounding the Elagabalus Texts
There is some pushback into this notion of pronouns, however, and debates have sparked amongst historians regarding the full meaning of the texts that Dio wrote in regards to Elagabalus' preference and some would even label it as "character assassination."
To add, Dio had purportedly used such slanderous behavior to justify Elagabalus' assassination and had also served under the rule of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander, the successor to Elagabalus.
A classics professor at Cambridge, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, told the Telegraph, "The Romans didn't have our idea of 'trans' as a category." He added that the Romans would use allegations of "womanly behavior" as a "horrendous insult" against men of the time. The professor also proposed that racism may have contributed to this because Elagabalus was actually Syrian, not Roman.
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