Reflections | Did Chinese emperor identify as a woman like Roman emperor Elagabalus? Why we should sometimes question historical accounts
- Emperor Ming of the Wei dynasty was recorded as being partial to donning feminine fashions, dressing flamboyantly and dazzling with his androgynous looks
- But should we question the veracity of these accounts in the same way that historians dismiss the stories about Roman emperor Elagabalus being transgender?
Was the Roman emperor Elagabalus transgender? A museum in Hitchin, a town halfway between London and Cambridge in Britain, recently changed the pronouns it used when describing an Elagabalus coin in its collection, referring to the emperor as a trans woman using “she/her” pronouns.
According to historical records, Elagabalus, who reigned for four years and was murdered in AD222 at the age of 18, dressed as a female prostitute, “married” a male slave and behaved as his “wife”, and wanted to be referred to in the feminine.
In one story, Elagabalus even begged to undergo a gender transition through surgery.
The emperor has in recent years become an icon in the genderqueer community. Hence the museum’s decision to change his pronouns.
Historians, however, are more circumspect, cautioning against reading historical records at face value.
