Hypatia
There is no surviving portrait of Hypatia of Alexandria, although she had a notable life and a notable death.
Astronomer, philosopher, mathematician plus a powerful respected woman in Alexandria, the date of her birth is uncertain and it has been established between 355 and 370. Most historians agree the date of her death to be the year of 415.
I first heard of Hypatia in Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Her story, a scholar and a woman hacked to pieces by a pack of fanatics stuck with me ever since. Both in antiquity and present times, reason was and is a feeble deterrent to the “madness of crowds”.
The works attributed to her are:
- Commentaries on Apollonius of Perga’s Conics (geometry);
- Diophantus of Alexandria’s Arithmetic (number theory);
- An astronomical table (possibly a revised version of Book III of her father’s commentary on the Almagest).(3)
Of which all originals are believed to be lost.
Yet that she was powerful and also revered as a great mathematician and philosopher can be attested by her friend and former pupil Synesius of Cyrene, bishop of Ptolemais surviving letters. In them he calls her the "only good thing that remains inviolate, along with virtue. You always have power, and long may you have it and make a good use of that power".(2) To him she is the one "who legitimately presides over the mysteries of philosophy" .(2)
About her Philostorgius would write that she "was so well educated in mathematics by her father, that she far surpassed her teacher, especially in astronomy, and taught many others the mathematical sciences".(1)
The main sources that mention her life and death are:
Socrates Scholasticus, The Ecclesiastical History, Book VII, Chapter XIII:
“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 her self-possession and ease of manner, which she had acquired in consequence of the cultivation of her mind, she not infrequently appeared in public in the presence of the magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in coming to an assembly of men. For all men on account of her extraordinary dignity and virtue admired her the more. Yet even she fell a victim to the political jealousy which at that time prevailed. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes, it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace, that it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop. Some of them therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal, whose ringleader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home, and dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church named Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her with [roofing] tiles [or oyster-shells]. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them. The affair brought not the least [i.e., considerable] opprobrium, not only on Cyril, but also on the whole Alexandrian church. And surely nothing can be further from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort. This happened in the month of March during Lent, in the fourth year of Cyril’s episcopate, under the tenth consulate of Honorius, and the sixth of Theodosius.”(1)
The Chronicle of John Malalas, Book 14:
“At that time, the Alexandrians, given free rein by their bishop, seized and burnt on a pyre of brushwood Hypatia the famous philosopher, who had a great reputation and who was an old woman.”(1)
Damascius, Life of Isidore, The Suda:
“Hypatia’s style was like this: she was not only well-versed in rhetoric and in dialectic, but she was as well wise in practical affairs and motivated by civic-mindedness. Thus she came to be widely and deeply trusted throughout the city, accorded welcome and addressed with honor. Furthermore, when an archon was elected to office, his first call was to her, just as was also the practice in Athens. So although nowadays those charged with the governance of the city have abandoned the practical application of philosophy, back then its name still had a great and wonderful cachet. Now the following event took place.
Cyril, the bishop of the [. . . ] opposite sect, was passing Hypatia’s house and noticed a hubbub at the door, “a confusion of horses and of men,” some coming, others going, and yet others standing and waiting. He asked what was the meaning of the gathering and why there was a commotion at the house. Then he heard from his attendants that they were there to greet the philosopher Hypatia and that this house was hers. This information gave his heart such a prick that he at once plotted her murder, the most unholy of all murders. So next time when, following her usual custom, she appeared on the street, a mob of brutal men at once rushed at her—truly wicked men “fearing neither the revenge of the gods nor the judgment of men”—and killed the philosopher. . .
And while she was still feebly twitching, they beat her eyes out. . . .”(1)The Chronicle of John of Nikiu:
“And in those days there appeared in Alexandria a female philosopher, a pagan named Hypatia, and she was devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through [her] satanic wiles. And the governor of the city honored her exceedingly; for she had beguiled him through her magic. And he ceased attending church as had been his custom. [But he went once under circumstances of danger.] And he not only did this, but he drew many believers to her, and he himself received the unbelievers at his house.
[. . . ] And when they learned the place where she was they proceeded to her and found her seated on a [lofty] chair; and having made her descend they dragged her along till they brought her to the great church, named Caesarion. Now this was in the days of the fast. And they tare off her clothing and dragged her [till they brought her] through the streets of the city till she died. And they carried her to a place named Cinaron, and they burned her body with fire. And all the people surrounded the patriarch Cyril and named him ‘the new Theophilus’; for he had destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city.”(1)
Hypatia's story seems to me to oddly resonate with present times. Still today female scholars are persecuted by fanatics. Murdered because they won't shut up...
Showing that despite all the centuries that stand in between Hypatia and us, so little has changed concerning the “madness of crowds”.
Notes & References:
(1) http://hypatiansociety.org/about-us/writings-about-hypatia/
(2) http://www.livius.org/articles/person/synesius-of-cyrene/
(3) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia
https://academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/51/2/2.9/252110
http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hypatia.html
https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/hypatia.htm
http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/primary-sources.html
https://www.ancient.eu/Hypatia_of_Alexandria/
http://www.jimhaldenwang.com/Hypatia.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/paganism/hypatia.html