There is no single first transgender person: wherever there is evidence of gender boundaries in ancient societies, there is evidence of people crossing them. Ancient writers used many terms for people who did not fit the usual categories, some insults, and the modern word transgender would not have been understood. In the fifth century BC Herodotus and Hippocrates wrote about the Anarieis of Scythia, a region north of the Black Sea. Views of gender differed by time and place: Aristotle saw men and women as differing in heat and moisture, while lawyers described their legal privileges. Hatshepsut, the Egyptian pharaoh shown with a beard, is a case of gender roles being performed.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.