Hypatia

Hypatia, daughter and pupil of Theon, an astronomer and mathematician of Alexandria, was born in the later part of the 4th century A.D. Her learning and wisdom made her the most influential teacher in Alexandria, and the fame of her lectures drew round her students from all parts of the East where the influence of Greek thought and knowledge was felt. The philosophy she taught seems to have been an eclecticism, the results of an endeavour to combine Neoplatonism with Aristotelianism; but her thoughts were principally given to astronomy and mechanics. Personally she was held in such great esteem, and such reliance was placed on her judgment and sagacity, that the magistrates used frequently to consult her on important cases. At this time the Bishop of Alexandria was Cyril (q.v.), a fierce hater of heathens and heretics. With his connivance, if not at his instigation, certain savage monks from the Nitrian deserts, headed by one Peter, a reader, attacked Hypatia in the streets as she was returning from her lecture-room, dragged her from her chariot, hurried her to the Cæsaræum (then a church), there stripped her naked, and hacked her to death with oyster shells, after which she was torn to pieces, and her limbs carried to a place called Cinaron, and there burned to ashes (415). None of her writings have survived. Kingsley's romance, Hypatia, appeared in 1853.