The Impossible Identity of Elegabalus

Noble Blood

iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 13.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2023, a museum in England determined that they would refer to the Roman emperor Elegabalus using feminine pronouns. Elegabalus, who allegedly asked to be referred to as a lady, has become a node in queer history as a trans woman. Though it's impossible to fully know the truth of how she may have identified, we can try to unpack the ways in which sex and gender were seen in Roman society.

CW: sexual content

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Transcript

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0:00.0	History is filled with unexpected stories and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm
0:04.7	Aaron Mankey and for the past six years I've been sharing history's most curious
0:08.5	tales on my podcast Cabinet of Curiosities such as the surprising country that invented the
0:13.9	Crescent and the wrestling champ who won the White House.
0:16.8	And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book.
0:20.8	Curious to know more, pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities
0:23.7	available November 12th, wherever books and audio books are sold. Learn more
0:27.4	over at grim and mild.com slash Curiosities.
0:31.1	Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky,
0:38.0	listener discretion advised.
0:41.0	Just a quick content note before I begin, this episode contains some sexual content and descriptions of, in vague terms of sexual acts.
0:51.0	So if that's something that's uncomfortable for you or something that you know you'd be
0:55.4	sensitive about listening to with young children around just be aware of it.
0:59.4	In 2023, North Hertfordshire Museum in Hitchin, a town north of London, made the decision to edit some of the informational text it had on its walls.
1:16.2	In referring to the Roman Emperor Eligabolas, the museum would now be using feminine instead of masculine pronouns, consistent with the interpretation
1:27.7	that Eligobulus, who ruled Rome beginning in 218 AD, was a trans woman.
1:35.0	Eligobles was emperor for just four years before her assassination in 222 AD at the age of 18.
1:45.0	During that time she developed a reputation for pushing gender and sexual boundaries.
1:52.0	According to one classical source, she preferred she, her pronouns, and announced on one occasion,
2:00.0	quote, call me not Lord for I am a lady.
2:04.0	Ancient historians reported that she wore makeup,
2:08.0	shaved her body, and worked wool,
	...

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