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The Fascinating Ancient Artefacts That Show Wales' LGBT+ History Dates Back Thousands of Years
WalesOnline ^ | 11 FEB 2022 | Joseph Ali

Posted on 02/12/2022 2:21:25 PM PST by nickcarraway

From gender changing priests to coin hoards owned by LGBT+ emperors - archaeological finds suggest that Wales' ancient history could be filled with LGBT+ life

When you think of ancient Wales, your mind probably doesn't jump to LGBT+ history.

However, a series of archaeological finds point to a very different look at our history. With evidence of gender-variant priests and emperors, our Welsh history could be filled with more LGBT+ figures than we initially thought.

These discoveries formed part of a series of talks exploring LGBT+ history and the evidence that can be found in Wales by independent researcher, Dr Alessandro Ceccarelli, to mark LGBT+ History Month.

Using items from National Museum Wales collections, Dr Ceccarelli - an Affiliated Scholar at the University of Cambridge but based in Cardiff - also described the little-known stories behind items celebrating LGBT+ figures found across Wales, including items from Caerleon, Llanvaches and the Vale of Glamorgan.

One find from Wales sheds light on the followers of Greek-Roman god Attis, which mythology remembers as the “consort” of the mother goddess and harvest goddess Cybele. Attis was known as both a “male” and “female” god in certain texts and had a religious following of “Galli” priests. They were known as “gender-variant” priests, sometimes depicted as neither man or woman. Some of their depictions represent them wearing clothes and ornaments often associated with femininity in Ancient Rome, wearing makeup and changing their hair colour.

The head of a sculpture found in Caerleon, near Newport, points to the existence of the cult of Attis, and potentially Galli priests in ancient Wales too. The sculpture depicts the face framed by curly hair and crowned by a cone-shaped cap.

Dr Ceccarelli said: “Archaeology can tell us about sexual orientations and gender identities in ancient Wales - and further afield - and about experiences that are still unexplored. It is not just modern history that can tell us about the lives and experiences of LGBT+ people.

“Archaeological evidence allows us to travel back in time for thousands of years, rediscovering ancient, diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. However, it is not an easy journey, as it is often really fragmented.

“But where it exists, it really shines a light on the diverse stories of people who lived in ancient societies, and would sound very familiar to those who identify as LGBT+ today.

“But similar statues, altars to Cybele, and evidence for their cults were not exclusive of Wales, as they were also found across the UK. For instance, archaeological evidence of this cult was found in Chesters Roman Fort and Corbridge, on Hadrian’s Wall, and in Catterick in North Yorkshire.

"So we can see that there was relatively widespread knowledge of individuals with diverse gender identities and expressions in Wales and Britain at least as old as the early centuries CE. It is a notion of gender that many modern people would now relate with transgender and non-binary.”

A hoard of more than 300 coins was found in Sully Moors in the Vale of Glamorgan in the late 19th Century, which shows Emperor Elagabalus. Elagabalus was reported to be sometimes referred to as a man, but historians also wrote that they identified as, and asked to be regarded as, a woman. They used to shave their body hair, wear make-up and wigs, and rejected being called a lord. Other evidence suggests that they asked physicians to change their body, promising them a lot of money to do so. Some details about a relationship with a charioteer called Hierocles are available, and a potential marriage to him.

"These archaeological finds give us a glimpse into untold LGBTQ+ stories and histories that are little-known to people today,” Dr Ceccarelli said.

“History Month is an important reminder that LGBTQ+ people have always existed and that their stories need to be told as much as everyone else’s”.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Indiana; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: alessandroceccarelli; archaeology; castrato; cybele; elagabalus; fantasyhistory; genderdysphoria; godsgravesglyphs; historicalprojection; homosexualagenda; indiana; petebuttigieg; romanempire; wales; woke; wokenonsense
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To: rod5591

“**please**”

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3928396/posts


21 posted on 02/12/2022 3:15:45 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
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To: nickcarraway

Horseshit


22 posted on 02/12/2022 3:20:12 PM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: exinnj

They’re probably gonna use it to try to convince little Welch boys that they’re little Welch girls.


23 posted on 02/12/2022 3:22:23 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Honest Nigerian

Marxism -> Cultural Marxism (critical theory) -> Critical Legal Theory (Marxist lawfare) -> Queer Theory (Marxist comprehension of sexuality)


24 posted on 02/12/2022 3:24:38 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: nickcarraway

LGBT+ people look better falling off a 10 story building.


25 posted on 02/12/2022 3:28:29 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Ge0ffrey

When dealing with the Left’s narratives “Horseshitarati” applies to those pushing it.


26 posted on 02/12/2022 3:30:53 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

Once upon a time I renter a room in Tangiers. One morning I was awakened by a scream that pierced my ears it just went on and on. I rushed to the balcony (which over looked a small courtyard) just in time to see a very old woman carrying a small while metal bowl with red liquid in it.

WTF I thought.

Later, I walked around the block my apartment building was on. When I got to the side directly opposite my building, there was a very large marble building with fluted columns, broad white marble stairway leading into the building.

There were a few families leading their male children up the steps. Above the entrance was an carved inscription in French stating that his building was a ‘castorium’. I knew in that instant that what I had heard was some male child having his balls removed with a piece of glass so he could be sold by his family as an eunuch.

I ran all the way back to my apartment, threw my stuff in my duffel and took a taxi to the airport, never to return.


27 posted on 02/12/2022 3:43:20 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Americannae1362

No one disputes that faggotry has been around for millenniums.


28 posted on 02/12/2022 3:50:13 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: nickcarraway

Good grief, will it never end?


29 posted on 02/12/2022 3:50:31 PM PST by slouper (LWRC SPR 5.5 6)
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To: Americannae1362

The crazy have always been with us.


30 posted on 02/12/2022 3:53:39 PM PST by Kozak (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. TV)
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To: nickcarraway

There’s always been abuse and reactions to it.


31 posted on 02/12/2022 4:21:30 PM PST by Trillian
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To: PIF

OMG


32 posted on 02/12/2022 4:22:41 PM PST by Scarlett156 (Someone with "comedian" on his social media profile is invariably a self-hating sadistic loser.)
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To: nickcarraway

Earlier I read a portion of this to Mr K (not the one on this forum). He knows my usual teaching on this subject and I see many who have posted here are in accord, if not agreement: F@ggotry has been around since humans have had opposable thumbs.

One reason for this is simple: Men will go after whatever is there. Chastity wasn’t always a big important idea. In some times and places, it was completely unknown.

Another reason: In a great many cultures (if not all of them that we know of), men and women were seen to be quite different. In ancient Greece (for example), favoring a woman as your main squeeze was kind of regarded as decadent. Being nice to your female slaves and wife was like today if you are really, really nice to animals today. It’s not beyond the pale but still regarded as abnormal by many. Women were to be kept under strict control. (Of course nobody thinks that way now!)

In play-acting, for example: The actors were all men. The ones playing female characters wore women’s costumes and makeup and talked in squeaky voices. Some of them did this offstage as well. Haha. Probably because there was money in it.

So that’s why a guy being nice to women and treating them kindly 2000 years ago got so much attention, because that was not the style at the time.

Jesus: Oh, I wasn’t being that nice. You see, I...

Me: We can just listen to the CD, if that’s okay.

Jesus: *nods graciously* That sounds fine.


33 posted on 02/12/2022 4:35:32 PM PST by Scarlett156 (Someone with "comedian" on his social media profile is invariably a self-hating sadistic loser.)
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To: PIF

I’m repulsed, but not shocked.


34 posted on 02/12/2022 4:38:58 PM PST by oldplayer
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To: PIF

A horrible tale, AND the sort of thing the “diversity is our strength” folks would say is “cultural” and should be excused. Islam and eunuchs for sale.


35 posted on 02/12/2022 5:40:36 PM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
File under the "My Ass" subcategory.

36 posted on 02/12/2022 6:35:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: nickcarraway

There’s nothing new about sin. The Wages remain the same.they will be paid.


37 posted on 02/12/2022 6:55:05 PM PST by Torahman (Remember the Maccabees)
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To: Billthedrill

They ALL are batshit nuts!


38 posted on 02/12/2022 7:11:59 PM PST by Taxman (SAVE AMERICA!)
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To: PIF

LGBT+ people look better falling off a 10 story building.=======

I don’t know about that but when they get to ground level and you can really look at them, they are much improved.


39 posted on 02/12/2022 7:36:38 PM PST by Lion Den Dan
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To: nickcarraway

Cybele was a Roman goddess, Elagabalus a Roman emperor.

Roman artifacts found in Wales, particularly coins with the emperor’s head, tell us nothing about LGBT people in Wales.


40 posted on 02/12/2022 8:02:02 PM PST by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
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