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Trans People in the Roman World - Literature Cheryl Morgan Moving Trans History Forward, March 2021 What Is Trans (Plus)?

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Trans People in the Roman World - Literature Cheryl Morgan Moving Trans History Forward, March 2021 What Is Trans (Plus)? Trans People in the Roman World - Literature Cheryl Morgan Moving Trans History Forward, March 2021 What Is Trans (Plus)? Transvestite Transsexual Transgender Non-Binary Genderqueer Gender fluid Agender Two Spirit Hijra Fa’fafine Etc. Photo of Laverne Cox by Frazer Harrison - © 2016 Getty Images, via imdb.com https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1209545/mediaviewer/rm3878151168/ Gender Diversity in History Affecting presentation Adopting social roles Signalling sexuality A matter of identity Culturally contextual Explanations Medico-scientific model Religious model Intersex Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud, via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV#/media/File:Louis_XIV_of_France.jpg A Word on Sources Most of our sources are written by elite, conservative Roman men Up until recently, these have been interpreted for us by elite, conservative Western men Sometimes we have to read between the lines Abductive reasoning – what is the most likely explanation? The Great Mother Cybele arrived in Rome from Phrygia in 204 BCE to aid the Republic against Hannibal The Romans called her Magna Mater, the Great Mother Her followers included people assigned male at birth who were castrated on joining the cult and lived as women thereafter They were known as Galli Photo Marshall Astor via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybele#/media/File:Cybele_Getty_Villa_57.AA.19.jpg Cybele & Attis Attis hurries. Runs barefoot, takes a fast boat to Asia, runs again. Mad with Her love so that he feels no pain. He loves. Comes to Her woods and groves. Then starts to cut cut with the flint that cut feet. Cuts deep and fast. The blood begins to flow. She plucks the last Bits of her former flesh Out by the chords Catullus #63, translated by Roz Kaveney Photo via Ancient Origins https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends- europe/pagan-attis-and-christian-jesus-spurious-connection-009634 Not So Deadly • In 2002 a dig at Catterick in Yorkshire revealed possible 4th Century CE Gallus burial • “Cybelean priests often died in the process. Indeed, the Romano- British transvestite eunuch from Yorkshire probably perished from the wounds inflicted in just such an act.” – David Keys, The Independent, May 21, 2002 Artist’s impression of the Catterick Gallus, via BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1999734.stm A Well Practiced Operation A castration clamp found in the Thames and on display in the British Museum This was an efficient (and apparently well- used) medical instrument Wait, is this medical transition? Photo by Cheryl Morgan Transphobia in Court In 77 BCE Genucius, was left an inheritance by a freedman friend, Naevius Anius Naevius’s family challenged the will in court The magistrate ruled that Genucius could not have the money as wills only applied to men and women So Rome had three legal genders Photo by Anna-Katharina Rieger via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galli#/media/File:Relief_of_Archigallus.jpg Roman Era Drag Queens The Golden Ass by Apuleius, a Roman satirical novel It describes the adventures of Lucius while transformed into a donkey In one chapter he is purchased by a troupe of Galli “these 'girls' were a troupe of queens, who at once appeared jumping for joy and squealing untunefully in mincing effeminate tones” Image via BESTqUEST https://phillipkay.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/the-golden-ass/ Or Beauty Queens? In the play, Eumenides, by Marcus Terentius Varro, a young man has an encounter with the cult of the Great Mother He describes the Galli at the temple in Rome as very beautiful and looking “like Naiads” Both descriptions can be true Photo by Alessandro Antonelli via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Terentius_Varro#/media/File:Statua_di_Marco_ Terenzio_Varrone_(Rieti)_02.jpg Were They Trans? Well yes, obviously, but how did they see themselves? “Those of them who […] have desired to be completely changed into women and gone on to mutilate their genital organs” – Philo of Alexandria Image by André Thévet via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo#/media/File:PhiloThevet.jpg The Galli and the Law Castrated people could not be citizens Giving up everything for femininity But an Empire-wide network of trans folk with an HQ on the Palatine Hill “It is hardly an exaggeration to claim that the galli were the Roman emperor’s closest neighbours” – Mary Beard Emancipation under Claudius (41-54)? The Rites of Attis become part of the Roman religious calendar Please remember March 24th Derek Jacobi from I Claudius (BBC) – photo via Almay https://www.alamy.com/stock- photo/i-claudius.html In Other Cultures Were there trans people in other cultures known to Rome? Yes! Scythian shamen called Enarees said to be a third gender by Herodotus, etc. Were almost certainly castrated because Scythians were horse people But probably did not drink mare’s urine Image via National Clothing http://nationalclothing.org/110-scythian-traditional-gold- jewelry-and-clothing-with-gold-decorations-5th-4th-century-b-c.html The Trans Emperor? Elagabalus, Emperor of Rome (218-222) “He carried his lewdness to such a point that he asked the physicians to contrive a woman's vagina in his body by means of an incision, promising them large sums for doing so.” – Cassius Dio, Roman History Book 79 Bust of Elagabalus from the Capitoline Museum, Rome – image via Pinterest.com https://www.pinterest.co.uk/leterrae/rome-musei-capitolini/ Nero and Sporus/Sabina Sabina (a.k.a. Sporus) is generally portrayed as a victim, but… “Calvia had been entrusted with the care of the boy and with the oversight of the wardrobe, though a woman and of high rank” – Cassius Dio “that youth of Nero’s actually wore his hair parted, young women attended him whenever he went for a walk, he wore women’s clothes, and was forced to do everything else a woman does in the same way” – Dio Chrysostom Bust of Nero from the Capitoline Museum, Rome – image via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#/media/File:Nero_1.JPG The Trans Empress “All the Greeks held a celebration in honour of their marriage, uttering all the customary good wishes, even to the extent of praying that legitimate children might be born to them.” – Cassius Dio Nero wanted his wife to be “in muliebrem naturam transfigurare” woman - Suetonius She was loyal to him to the end But was then courted by both Nymphidius Sabinus and Otho And ended her life like a true Roman Matron to defy Vitellius Sporus/Sabina as played by Daniela Marinova from the Bettany Hughes TV series, Eight Days that Made Rome Where Are the Boys? There is almost nothing about people who might be trans men (or even lesbians) in Roman literature Lucian (2nd C) has Megillus of Lesbos in The Courtesans, but this is satire In Christian times trans men are suddenly everywhere (as per Nico’s paper from yesterday) Image by William Faithorne via Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian#/media/File:Lucianus.jpg Augustine is Disgusted The Festival of Tanit in Carthage “These effeminates … going through the streets … with anointed hair, whitened faces, relaxed bodies, and feminine gait” – Saint Augustine of Hippo, City of God Image via Dover Beach https://lifeondoverbeach.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/augustine-of-hippo-but-my-sin- was-this-that-i-looked-for-pleasure-beauty-and-truth/.
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