Name of identity: Gallae. Contemporaries who were not Gallae called them by masculine words, Galloi or Galli (plural), or Gallus (singular). Some historians interpret the Gallae as transgender, by modern terms, and think they would have called themselves by the feminine Gallae (plural) and Galla (singular).[1][2][3] The Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) says their name comes from the Gallus river in Phrygia;[4] "gallus" itself means chicken or rooster.
Culture: Originally Phrygia (where Turkey is today, part of Asia Minor).
Era: 2,300 years ago[5] to 6th century CE. Revived in the modern day by some Pagan transgender people who consider themselves Gallae.[3]
Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine eunuchs. They may have been what modern people would consider a gender outside the Western binary, or else trans women.
Role in society: Priesthood. The Gallae were priests of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis.[5] They were believed to have spiritual powers to tell the future, bless homes, have power over wild animals, bring rain, and exorcise evil spirits.[6][5]
Demographics: Unknown. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, no respondents called themselves Gallae or any other form of that word.[7]
↑Maarten J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult, translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.85, referencing Ovid, Fasti IV.9
↑ 5.05.15.2Raven Kaldera. Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook. Hubbardston, Massachusetts: Asphodel Press, 2008. P. 174-179.
↑Maarten J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult, translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.97.
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