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noviembre 21, 2023
A UK museum has declared a third-century Roman emperor a transgender lady — and can begin referring to the ruler as “she,” despite the fact that some historians imagine it’s primarily based on historical insults.
The North Hertfordshire Museum stated it’s being “delicate” to the purported pronoun preferences of Emperor Elagabalus, who got here to energy at 14 in 281 and died by assassination simply four years later, according to The Telegraph.
The council-run museum in Hitchin claims the swap relies on classical texts that present Elagabalus requested to be referred to as a “woman” and a “spouse,” The Telegraph first reported.
It’s likewise now solely utilizing feminine pronouns for its shows for a silver denarius coin minted throughout the transient reign of a teenage chief recognized for infantile pranks involving wild animals and whoopie cushions.
“We all know that Elagabalus recognized as a lady and was express about which pronouns to make use of, which exhibits that pronouns aren’t a brand new factor,” stated Keith Hoskins, govt member for Enterprise and Arts at North Herts Council, which runs the museum, the UK paper stated.
“We attempt to be delicate to figuring out pronouns for individuals up to now, as we’re for individuals within the current,” Hoskins stated, calling it “solely well mannered and respectful.”
The concept Elagabalus recognized as a lady comes from the writings of Roman chronicler Cassius Dio, who claimed that that emperor was “termed spouse, mistress and queen,” and instructed one lover, “Name me not Lord, for I’m a Woman.”
In response to historical texts, Elagabalus married a number of ladies, however just for the aim of studying their bed room habits, and likewise tied the knot with a male chariot driver.
Elagabalus additionally recognized to have usually worn wigs and make-up, allegedly moonlighted as a feminine prostitute in Rome’s brothels, and provided giant sums of cash to any physician who may carry out a gender reassignment surgical procedure by making a vagina.
However some historians famous that Dio, who chronicled Elagabalus’ purportedly scandalous habits, served the emperor’s successor, Emperor Severus Alexander — suggesting that his lurid accounts might have been character assassination.
“The Romans didn’t have our thought of ‘trans’ as a class, however they used accusations of sexual habits ‘as a lady’ as one of many worst insults in opposition to males.” Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, a Cambridge classics professor, instructed the Telegraph
Professor Christian Laes, a College of Manchester classicist, warned that historical tales of the emperor’s life must be taken with “an enormous pinch of salt.”
It was not solely Elagabalus’ gender identification and kinky antics that raised eyebrows in Rome throughout his reign.
The teenage ruler grew to become notorious for enjoying merciless — and infrequently lethal — pranks on dinner company.
One such stunt concerned planting whoopie cushions underneath the unsuspecting diners, which ensured that they’d slowly sink to the bottom over the course of the meal, famous historian and writer Mary Beard writes in her newest guide, “Emperor of Rome,” printed final month, according to a review in The Guardian.
One other sick joke thought up by the emperor entailed smothering dinner company with a cascade of rose petals dropped from the ceiling.
Elagabalus was additionally recognized to launch tamed wild animals right into a room the place drunk partygoers slept off their hangovers.
