Hasanlu, 800 BC: In a society of highly gendered, ritualized burial practices, some graves were found with markers of both male and female graves
Eleanor Rykener, French spy who could convincingly pass as either male or female, depending on what was necessary for their job. While their grave is now lost, the are memorialized on the Burdett-Coutts memorial sundial.
Eleanor Rykener, 14th century embroiderer and prostitute to members of the clergy. Burial practices at the time often involved paying priests to pray for the soul of the dead.
Radu cel Frumos, sent as a hostage to the Ottoman empire along with his brother, Vlad the Impaler. While Vlad was returned home, Radu became the lover of sultan Mehmed II
Emperor Elagabalus, Roman emperor known for assigning godhood to a large rock named after themself, desire for sex reassignment surgery, and death at the hands of their own people
Uesugi Kenshin feudal Japan’s ‘god of war’, who many modern historians debate might have been transgender
Antinous, The lover of emperor Hadrian, was deified after his early death. He died mysteriously while with the emperor on a boat trip, drowning in what would be debated as being an accident, an assassination, or a suicide.
Queen Christina of Sweden, known for her pursuit of knowledge, art collections, and eventual conversion to Catholicism, she had a long-running relationship with a noble woman. Buried in a set of three coffins, one of the only women to be buried in the Vatican grotto.
Anastasia the Patrician, Byzantine Saint who, to avoid marriage, dressed as a male monk and remained isolated in a cave until death.
Nzinga, ruler of Ndongo, defended the kingdom against Portuguese invasion. As ruling was seen as a male role, she was referred to as King, and had her husbands dress as women to assume the role of her wives.
ìBury Your Gaysî
ìBury your Gaysî depicts the lives of queer historical figures through the burial practices of their time and culture, examining how evidence of queerness in ancient history is often doubted and ìburiedî during modern interpretation.
