Reading of Alexandria this morning I was reminded of Hypatia, of whom I had never heard until I visited Rome in 2012.

“Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
…
Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.”

“A rather different woman to the Empress Pulcheria lived and died in Alexandria. Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, the astronomer, and she inherited her father’s intellectual gifts. Rising to become head of the Neoplatonist School of Philosophy her fame attracted students (including Christian theologians!) from across the Mediterranean – “as many saw her as one of the masters in communication”

Hypatia was much respected by the governor Orestes, who it seems consulted her even on matters of civil administration – “deeming her one of the masters in public administration.”

Cyril was incensed that Hypatia’s reputation and talents were giving the cause of paganism a dangerous prestige, and thereby preventing the ‘progress of the Faith’. It rankled deeply that she enjoyed a close friendship with the prefect, and the scurrilous bishop likened the relationship of Hypatia and Orestes to that of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. ‘If she could,’ he ventured, ‘she would set up an Egyptian Empire!’ From his pulpit Cyril inveighed against the harlot and, in response to his call, more fanatics swarmed in from the desert.

Murder of Hypatia

Hypatia was set upon by the mobsters as she was going in her carriage from her lecture-hall to her home. She was dragged to a nearby church where mob-rule took control. Stripped, beaten and hacked to pieces her dismembered body was burned to hide all traces of the crime.

The year was 415. A distressed Orestes, officially still in charge of the province, ordered the execution of Hierax, a Christian monk, for complicity in the murder but within days Orestes himself was murdered. The triumphant Bishop Cyril let it be known that “Hypatia had gone to Athens”, that there had been no mob, no tragedy and that the prefect had resigned and fled. The expulsion of the Jews continued and the Bishop himself nominated a successor to Orestes. From Pulcheria Cyril elicited a new decree, which raised the number of his personal parabalani mobsters from 500 to 600.

Religious tyranny had enthroned itself in the erstwhile world-capital of intellectualism.

From jesusneverexisted

The Rev Dodgson said:

Reading of Alexandria this morning I was reminded of Hypatia, of whom I had never heard until I visited Rome in 2012.

“Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
…
Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.”

I heard of her in 1980 in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Reading of Alexandria this morning I was reminded of Hypatia, of whom I had never heard until I visited Rome in 2012.

“Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
…
Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.”

I heard of her in 1980 in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series

I must have missed that episode ;)

It’s certainly possible I heard of her before, and it didn’t sink in, but I think she deserves to be known more widely.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Reading of Alexandria this morning I was reminded of Hypatia, of whom I had never heard until I visited Rome in 2012.

“Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
…
Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.”

I heard of her in 1980 in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series

Me too but not in 1980.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Reading of Alexandria this morning I was reminded of Hypatia, of whom I had never heard until I visited Rome in 2012.

“Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy. Although preceded by Pandrosion, another Alexandrine female mathematician, she is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor.
…
Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lector named Peter.”

I heard of her in 1980 in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series

I must have missed that episode ;)

It’s certainly possible I heard of her before, and it didn’t sink in, but I think she deserves to be known more widely.

Sagan on Alexandria

Section on Hypatia starts at about 7:30

I’ve been reading of her just recently in “Pythagoras’ Trousers”, about women in maths and physics.

buffy said:

I’ve been reading of her just recently in “Pythagoras’ Trousers”, about women in maths and physics.

The Ship Who Searched – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Ship_Who_Searched
The Ship Who Searched is a science fiction novel by American writers Anne McCaffrey and … The Ship Who Searched follows the adventures of Hypatia Cade.