Elagabalus was a leader acting as Emperor in Rome from 218 until 222. After many long term reviews of historical documents and discussions by ancient Rome historians, she is now recognized as having been a transgender woman. Especially by the North Hertfordshire Museum where a coin dating to her rule is displayed in their LGBT section.

She acted as Roman Empress from 218 until her death in 222 at age 18. She was highly scrutinized as a leader mainly due to encouraging unusual for the time religious practices as well as attempting to marry a vestal virgin, which was seen as highly sacreligious. Elagabalus in historical texts is quoted to have preferred she/her/hers pronouns and feminine leaning titles such as Empress and Mistress. She was married 4 times to other women and once finally to a man who was a former enslaved person and chariot driver.

Elagabalus rose to power at the age of 14, during those years of rule, she forced worship of the Goddess Elagabal, which is reflected historically on coins by the black meteoric stone that is the statue of worship for Elagabal which was temporarily moved into Rome for a short period of time. This was not seen as average or normal, as the norm at the time was to worship human-like statues of the gods and goddesses. She was highly criticized for many reasons, including creating a Woman’s Senate in Rome which was disbanded after her death. She, like many Roman rulers, was murdered as a means to politically seize power.