History matters. History defines our culture; it informs our values, and it allows society to build narrative of human progress. However, as a history teacher, I understand the importance of history more than most. Not only does it have the power to create understanding, but it too readily becomes a tool used to control the narrative. Initially this is because ‘History is written by the victors’ or in many cases the oppressors who often erased or manipulate the representation of others. However, even beyond this the privilege and perspective of history presented to students and the public has allowed this dominant narrative to be perpetrated through the generations. This sort of thing is hard to undo.
Yet, hope remains as the tool of oppression can also be the means of salvation. Revealing an unabridged History that shows unique perspective can break through the narrative crafted by white cis heteronormative western society. It is the only thing that can. This is exactly, the reason for initiatives like Trans History Week, to undo the erasure of previous centuries. To break down the myth that we are somehow some new social contagion. To allow us to appreciate our champions that have fought for progress and to continue to highlight that we are not alone, we have never been alone. Simply we have always been here and no matter what hardships we will continue to remain.
In light of this I wanted to put the spotlight on five points of history from the Ancient world to Modernity that highlight this simple fact.
1. The Cult of Ishtar
Inanna or Ishtar is a Mesopotamian god worshipped by the Sumerians (4000 BCE – 3100 BCE and later by the Akkadian Empire around 2300 BCE. However, it was under the Assyrians that she rose to the greatest significance as the head of their Pantheon of gods. She was the god of love, fertility and war connected to the plant Venus making her not only a significant figure in these cultures but also developed into the more well-known Greek and Roman equivalents. Despite our limited archaeological evidence from these cultures Ishtar is features in many surviving texts including the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Descent of Ishtar into the underworld.
The prominence of Ishtar is the ancient world (which is something I am going to study further as an ancient historian) is astounding for modern audiences is her connection with trans and non-binary representation. The writings of Inanna’s High Priestess Enheduanna in the 23rd Century clearly state the goddess had the power “To turn a man into a woman and woman into man”. In addition, the cult of Ishtar included worshipers in the Assinnu, Gala and Kalu are all associated with gender nonconformity and ambiguity. As such the representation of Inanna/Ishtar and the categorization of her worshippers demonstrates the clear existence of trans identities well before the development of any of the Abrahamic religions.
2. The Roman Emperor Elagabalus
A Syrian rising to become Empire on over Rome in 218 CE after the assassination of Caracalla. They had a short reign of 4 years that proved unpopular in part due to their attempts to establish the Syrian sun god Elagabal as the primary deity of Rome, supplanting the supreme god Jupiter. In addition, their decision to marry a vestal virgin meant that they were seen as a foreigner quickly lost favor with the people and the senate. Unsurprisingly, Elagabalus was assassinated in 222 CE at the age of 18 and their body was thrown into the Tiber.
Realistically none of this is terribly unique, Romans had a long history of despising rulers that did not represent traditional Rome values and assassinating them. However, what is interesting about Elagabalus is that sources like Cassius Dio continually represented the emperor as someone that floated gender norms and potentially openly identified as feminine. This included wearing female clothing, marrying a male slave, and even asking to be referred to by female pronouns. There is even some discussion around Elagabalus’ desire for castration. As a Roman historian though I know we need to look at these sources skeptically as the ‘historians’ of Rome had a habit of discrediting tyrants and unpopular rulers with a fair degree of embellishment. So unfortunately we will never know whether Elagabalus was indeed trans, although this suggest it is at least possible. One thing we can clearly conclude however is that at this time people living outside the binary or wishing to present as a different gender existed and faced discrimination since Cassius and others used this as part of their representation of Elagabalus whether it was true or not.
3. Medieval Literature – The Romance of Silence
A French epic from the 13th century Le Roman De Silence centres around a girl that is forced to live as a boy to inherited land. However, not only does Silentius survive in this role, but ‘he’ becomes a knight and earns praise as the ‘best man in England’. This means that Silentius captures the attention of the King and ultimately the Queen how becomes infatuated with the young knight. Fearing discovery, the Silentius avoids the Queens advances which leads to several attempts to have ‘him’ killed. In finally attempt to destroy Silentius the Queen sends ‘him’ to capture Merlin who is said to be unable to be captured by men. Silentius succeeds and brings Merlin back to court laughing hysterically. Merlin reveals the reasons for his laughter including the fact that Silentius is female and a nun in the Queens service is in fact her male lover. The Queen is executed and Silentia now presenting as female becomes the new queen.
Found in the early 20th century, it is a remarkable piece of Medieval Literature that is more reminiscent of a more modern romantic comedy. In this instance Silentius isn’t identifying as transgender as it is a forced decision although the success that she is able to have as knight suggests an ability find comfort within a male gender role. Potentially suggesting more of spectrum rather than a fixed binary. As a piece of literature of the medieval period, like the work of Cassius Dio during the 200 CE, romance demonstrates that there are people exploring gender expression and a clear desire to break a rigid gender binary. In fact, the presence of the male lover crossdressing to be with the Queen further reinforces the existence of cross-dresses, and gender non-conforming identities in a range of contexts. This is reinforced by the real-life persona of Joan of Arc who obviously did not fit feminine stereotypes of the period and refused to wear female clothing yet also clearly identified herself as ‘the maid’ in her letters. A historical figure that suggests even during this rigid period there were those that played with gender expression and did not wish to conform to a narrow and strict binary.
4. Dr. James Barry, Inspector General of Hospitals
I haven’t chosen Dr. Barry since we have the same last name although, I need to research my family tree a little more but rather because of his prominence as a trans masculine surgeon during the 19th Century. Barry was born female and began identifying as male with the help of his mother and some liberal friends to gain admission into medical school. After graduating he joined the British Army in 1813 and despite his female appearance and small stature was able to remain undiscovered raising through the ranks to become inspector general of hospitals in 1857. It was not until after his death in 1865 that his sex was determined by a charwoman although in a letter form D. K McKinnon raises the possibility the Barry may have been intersex however beyond this document there seems to be little corroboration for such a theory.
Barry’s story once again shows the need for someone assigned female at birth to present male to achieve success and follow a specific path. Yet, his discission to live his entire life like this and forego any familiar attachment suggests it can’t just be pragmatism and there must have been a broader appeal of living as a man. The fact that this was contrived and enacted with the assistance of his mother also suggests a greater pull than simple pragmatism. Barry’s own words to his brother “Was I not a girl I would be a Soldier!” also demonstrates a clear recognition of the limitations placed on his sex and his desire to fulfil a more masculine role in society. Regardless of his exact motivations Barry was a successful surgeon that effectively transitioned during the 19th century to live out the life he desired.
5. Irene Clyde, the Non-binary Feminist
Born in 1869 Irene studied law at Queen’s College Oxford and received a Doctor of Civil Law in 1901. At this point she became a prolific writer and began publishing regular papers on international law. In 1909 Irene published her novel Beatice the sixteenth a post gender utopian piece of science fiction and would later as part of the Aëthnic Union establish the journal Urania to express her views on gender and sexuality, notably opposing the classification of people based on a gender binary. In 1916 she moved to Toyko and began working the Japanese government, unfortunately in the lead up to World War 2 her work attempted to legitimize the Japanese invasion of China. After the war, her British citizenship was revoked, and she died in 1954.
Regardless of Clyde’s stance on international law and her involvement in events in the lead up to World War 2 she clearly demonstrates a rejection of the gender binary. Her writings from now over 100 years old highlight a clear progression towards modern gender theory. Through her novel represents a world beyond this mire of gender classification the establishment of Urania which was published with the recuring header “There are no ‘men’ or ‘women’ in Urania.” continually challenged the binary. As a result, not only does Clyde’s story highlight the longstanding existence of trans and non-binary people but her work alongside the Aëthnic Union clearly establishes that modern interpretation of gender has existed for some time and continues to develop.
These are just a handful of the key figures and representations that demonstrate that we have existed for thousands of years. We can chart the existence of gender nonconformity and trans genderism back thousands of years. Unfortunately throughout this time we have been forced to hide, misrepresented and persecuted but we are there. Now we have found our voice, in many communities we have the freedom to be ourselves and we are not letting society write us out of existence.
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