SCRIPTSTORIUM

HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA [355-416 A.D.]

Hypatia is regarded as the last great Alexandrian librarian, mathematician and philosopher who wrote a commentary on geometry and taught New-Platonism to her students.

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“The daughter of the philosopher Theon, Hypatia 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.”  ~ Socrates

“Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.”  ~ Hypatia

Hypatia followed a Neo-Platonic belief which felt that reality was beyond the grasp of human intellect and words.  To her, it must be mystically experienced.  Theon, Hypatia’s father, raised his daughter to be the “perfect” human being.  Hypatia has come to symbolize the fearless, progressive attitude of a scholar. Hypatia never married and probably led a celibate life.  She was murdered in a most horrifying manner.  On the way home from the Library, she was dragged off of her chariot by monks led by Peter the Lector or Reader.  They took shells and broken pottery and flayed her skin from her bones and dismembered her and scattered the pieces of her body through the streets, burning them finally in a church called Caesareum.  Cyril was the bishop of Alexandria at this time and often accused Hypatia and her followers of paganism and heresy.  It is unknown the part he played in her brutal murder.  Hypatia died on or around the 8th of March, 415 A.D..

Notice in these primary sources, the various interpretations of her character and the nature of this tragic event. For more information compare and contrast this with the accounts given in this article.

THE ASTROLABE The astrolabe, one of the world’s oldest scientific instruments, provides a clear, concise picture of the heavens at a particular time and place.  With its elegant arcs and mysterious components it is truly an amazing technological achievement.  Hypatia is credited with inventing the astrolabe and the hydrometer, a device used to measure the relative density of liquids to water.  A type of moth, an Adobe typeface and an astroid belt are all named after this amazing “Renaissance” woman who lived nearly a thousand years earlier.

Listen to Tom Wujec on TedTalk discuss the amazing Astrolabe.