Hypatia of Alexandria

For other uses of Hypatia, see Hypatia (disambiguation).

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Hypatia of Alexandria (in Greek: ??????) (?350/370-415) was a philosopher, mathematician, and teacher who lived in Alexandria, then a Greek city. Several works are attributed to her by later sources, including commentaries on Diophantus's Arithmetica, on Apollonius's Conics and on Ptolemy's works, but none has survived. Letters written to her by her pupil Synesius give an idea of her intellectual milieu. She was of the Platonic school, although her adherence to the writings of Plotinus, the 3rd century follower of Plato and principal of the neo-Platonic school, is merely assumed. Hypatia's contributions to science are reputed (on scant evidence) to include the invention of the astrolabe and the hydrometer.

Related Topics:
Greek - Philosopher - Mathematician - Teacher - Alexandria - Greek - Diophantus - Apollonius - Ptolemy - Synesius - Plotinus - Astrolabe - Hydrometer

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She was the daughter of Theon, the last fellow of the Museum of Alexandria, which was adjacent to or included in the main Library of Alexandria. Hypatia did not teach in the Museum, but received her pupils in her own private home. No images of her exist, but nineteenth century writers and artists envisioned her as an Athene-like beauty.

Related Topics:
Theon - Library of Alexandria

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Hypatia was murdered in March 415 in the Alexandrian church of the Caesareum (a former pagan temple) by a mob led by a Christian magistrate named Peter. The motive seems to have been rooted in religious and political controversies.

Related Topics:
Murder - Caesareum - Magistrate

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In 391, Theophilus, the patriarch of Alexandria, had destroyed some pagan temples in the city , which may have included the Museum and certainly included the Serapeum (a temple for the worship of Serapis and "daughter library" to the Great Library). In the same year Emperor Theodosius had published an edict prohibiting various aspects of pagan worship, whereupon (although this was part of a wider phenomenon) Christians throughout the Roman Empire embarked upon a thorough campaign to destroy or christianize pagan places of worship.

Related Topics:
Theophilus - Pagan - Museum - Serapeum - Serapis - Theodosius - Christianize

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Hypatia lived during a conflict between pagans, on the one side, and Christians on the other, who were demanding the final destruction of paganism as an imperial institution; it appears that certain Christians and sympathisers of either side found it difficult to come to terms with the conflict. Hypatia, herself a pagan, was respected by many Christians, and was even exalted by a few later Christian authors as a symbol of virtue, often being portrayed by them (and by romantic novelists) as a virgin till her death. These later portrayals (interesting as they are) are not entirely reliable, since they often contradict each other.

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Her contemporary, the Christian historiographer Socrates Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History portrays her as a follows:

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:"There was a woman at Alexandria named Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon, who made such attainments in literature and science, as to far surpass all the philosophers of her own time. Having succeeded to the school of Plato and Plotinus, she explained the principles of philosophy to her auditors, many of whom came from a distance to receive her instructions. On account of the self-possession and ease of manner, which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not unfrequently appeared in public in presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in going to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more."

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Some insight into the intellectual conflict of early 5th century Alexandria is given by the letters written by Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolomais, to Hypatia, whom he loved and respected as a teacher. In one of them, he complains about people who begin to undertake philosophy after failing at some other career: "Their philosophy consists in a very simple formula, that of calling God to witness, as Plato did, whenever they deny anything or whenever they assert anything. A shadow would surpass these men in uttering anything to the point; but their pretensions are extraordinary." In this letter, he also tells Hypatia that "the same men" had accused him of storing "unrevised copies" of books in his library. This indicates that books were rewritten to suit the prevailing Christian dogma, which may also relate to the difficulty of finding accurate contemporary information about Hypatia's life and death.

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