A British museum will update its display about a Roman Emperor after determining they were a transgender woman.
The North Hertfordshire museum will now refer to the emperor Elagabalus with female pronouns.
Museum policy states the pronouns used in the displays will be those ‘the individual in question might have used themselves’ or whatever pronoun ‘in retrospect, is appropriate’.
Elagabalus’s gender identity has long been a topic of debate amongst historians and academics.
Historical records suggest the emperor asked to be referred to as a woman (Picture: Getty)
Historical records suggest the ill-fated emperor, who ruled for four years before her assassination aged 18, was often referred to as ‘wife, mistress and queen’ and told one lover to ‘call me not a Lord, for I am a Lady’.
It is also said that the ruler, who is sometimes referred to as ‘the trans Emperor of Rome’, also asked for female genitalia to be fashioned for them.
The Hertfordshire museum has a silver denarius coin that once belonged to Elagabalus, which is periodically put on display by the museum as one of the few LGBTQ+ items they have in their possession.
Keith Hoskins, local councillor and spokesperson for the museum, said reclassifying Elagbalus’ pronouns was the ‘polite’ thing to do.
A spokesperson for the North Hertfordshire museum said it was the ‘polite’ thing to do (Picture: Getty)
‘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 said in a statement.
He added: ‘We know that Elagabalus identified as a woman and was explicit about which pronouns to use, which shows that pronouns are not a new thing.’
In the past, historians had referred to Elagabalus using the pronoun ‘they’. However, this is believed to be the result of a classical Greek translation, which makes no distinction between gender when referring to people in the third person.
‘It is now known through evidence that Elagabalus most definitely preferred the “she” pronoun and as such this is something we reflect on when discussing her in contemporary times, as we believe is standard practice elsewhere,’ said Hoskins.
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