I'm not sure why they want to claim this sick, sadistic bastard as one of their own, but hey — they're welcome to him

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poster child for the deluded and mad

A Roman emperor has been branded transgender by a British museum, provoking uproar among historians.

The North Hertfordshire Museum has decided to refer to the 3rd-century AD ruler Elagabalus as 'she' to be 'sensitive' to his pronoun preferences in a display.

The council-run museum in Hitchin, which consults with the LGBT charity Stonewall, owns a coin minted in the reign and uses it in LGBT-themed displays.

Keith Hoskins, executive member for arts at North Herts Council, said: 'Elagabalus most definitely preferred the "she" pronoun and as such this is something we reflect when discussing her in contemporary times.'

However,

The decision is based on the account of Roman chronicler Cassius Dio, who claims that Elagabalus was 'termed wife, mistress and queen', told one lover 'Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady', and asked for female genitalia to be fashioned for him.

But Dio served the emperor Severus Alexander, who took the throne following the murder of Elagabalus, and historians believe the accounts were simply a character assassination.

Whatever is the real truth about this boy/girl queen’s feeling, his actions as a ruler are exceeded in brutality only by Donald Trump’s:

The boy Emperor Elagabalus, had a monstrous reputation as a ruler and has drawn comparisons from scholars with better-known tyrants such as Caligula and Nero when it came to his wickedness and vice.

At one feast, he had several of his guests lashed to a water-wheel, which turned slowly and drowned them as their horrified fellow diners looked on. In another extraordinarily sadistic prank he released dozens of leopards and lions among his guests once they had finished eating. 

On one occasion, he let poisonous snakes loose among the crowds at the gladiatorial games, causing widespread death and injury. And in still another example of his brutality, he threw gold and silver from a high tower, and watched as a mob of citizens fought to grab them, with many dying in the crush.

Elagabalus was also known to dress entirely in precious silks and draped himself with gems. The boy emperor also apparently dreamt of surrounding himself with a new Roman senate composed entirely of women. 

…. He is said to have been an extraordinarily handsome youth, with a short military haircut and bright eyes.

'The soldiers were revolted at the sight of him,' wrote one ancient historian. 'With his face made up more elaborately than a modest woman, he was effeminately dressed up in golden necklaces and soft clothes, dancing for everyone to see in this state.'

Elagabalus was killed in March 222AD, just four years into his reign, by his own soldiers who rebelled against his tyrannical ways.