Hypatia

From Philosopedia

An imagined portrait of Hypatia of Alexandria

Hypatia / Hipatia (c. 370? - 415)

Hypatia was the daughter of Theon (c. 335 - c. 405), a scholar and the last director of the Library of Alexandria in the Museion, for it was closed by Theophilus on order of Emperor Theodosius I in 391 C.E

Called the "pagan martyr," she was described by the Christian historiographer Socrates Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History:

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.

Synesius of Cyrene, the Bishop of Ptolomais, was one of her students and respected her, but in a letter to her he complained 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.

Stories of her death vary widely, but Edward Gibbon in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire described it as follows:

Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician, was initiated in her father's studies; her learned comments have elucidated the geometry of Apollonius and Diophantus; and she publicly taught, both at Athens and Alexandria, the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. In the bloom of beauty, and in the maturity of wisdom, the modest maid refused her lovers and instructed her disciples; the persons most illustrious for their rank or merit were impatient to visit the female philosopher; and Cyril beheld, with jealous eye, the gorgeous train of horses and slaves who crowded the door of her academy. A rumor was spread among the Christians, that the daughter of Theon was the only obstacle to the reconciliation of the prefect and the archbishop; and that obstacle was speedily removed. On a fatal day, in the holy season of Lent, Hypatia was torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and inhumanly butchered by the hands of Peter the reader and a troop of savage and merciless fanatics: her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp oyster-shells, and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames. The just progress of inquiry and punishment was stopped by seasonable gifts; but the murder of Hypatia has imprinted an indelible stain on the character and religion of Cyril of Alexandria.

Science popularizer Carl Sagan provided a vivid account of her death and the burning the Library of Alexandria in his Cosmos, an account similar to accounts by Gibbon and Voltaire.

Ruth N. Geller points out that Hypatia's legacy includes being referenced and relevant today:

• Feminist artist Judy Chicago included Hypatia in her controversial art installation, The Dinner Party.

• Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino sees the protagonist meet a secluded society of satryr-like creatures who all take their name and philosophy from Hypatia.

• Rinne Groff's 2000 play, The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem, features a character named Hypatia who lives silently, in fear that she will be killed like her namesake.

• Hypatia is the name of a "shipmind" (ship computer) in The Boy Who Would Live Forever, a novel by Frederick Pohl.

• "Hypatia Sans Pro" is an Adobe typeface.

• Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy has been in publication since 1986.

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