HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA: BIOGRAPHY, THOUGHT, CONTRIBUTIONS, WORKS - HISTORY - 2024

Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 350 to 370 - 415) was a philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer who was born in Egypt, which was by then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was the first woman for whom clear records were found in the history of mathematics. The Alexandrian was the daughter of the philosopher, mathematician and astronomer Theon of Alexandria, the last director of the Museion or university of the city.

Hypatia followed the philosophical current of Plotinian Neoplatonism and was the last exponent of this current. The renown of this philosopher spread throughout Rome. Since then she was considered one of the great minds of her time.

Portrait of Hypatia of Alexandria, by Jules Maurice Gaspard,, via Wikimedia Commons

From all the imperial territories, both western and eastern, philosophers and mathematicians set out to meet him. The Neoplatonism professed by the Alexandrian was tolerant of any religion.

Even though Hypatia was a pagan, her most notable disciples were all Christians, such as Sinesio, who became bishop of Ptolemaida in Egypt. Many of Hypatias's scientific works were considered minor, and most of them have disappeared.

In any case, the comments he made on Diophantus' Arithmetic, Apollonius of Perga's treatise on Conic Sections, and Ptolemy's Almagest are considered of great importance.

Within her own city Hypatia was highly respected. Her reputation led her to be an advisor to Orestes, the Roman prefect of the city, which ended up leading her to her death after being involved in internal fights for the political control of Alexandria.

Legacy of his tragedy

The unfortunate death of Hypatia of Alexandria at the hands of a Christian mob made her a symbol for the Iamblic Neoplatonists. The latter rejected Christianity, unlike the Plotinian side of Hypatia.

The emperors Honorius and Theodosius II published an edict the following year with which they limited the power of Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. For its part, Christianity centuries later created the figure of Saint Catherine of Alexandria taking Hypatia as a reference.

The story of Saint Catherine states that this woman was martyred by order of Emperor Maxentius. That decision responded to her converting the Roman ruler's subjects to Christianity and refusing to make sacrifices to pagan gods.

In more recent times the figure of Hypatia has been used as a landmark of inspiration for sociological, theological and artistic works. However, it is common for these to have little historical rigor and many authors prefer to use it as a symbol of anti-Catholic or feminist movements.

Biography

Early years

Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, which was under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire. The date of birth of the future philosopher is uncertain, as there are only indications in the records.

For one thing, his father's date of birth is also uncertain. It has been inferred that when Theon made the observations of the eclipses dated 364 he must have been about 25 years old and that Hypatia had not yet been born at that time.

To this was added that the chronicler Hesychius of Miletus, as recorded in the Byzantine Suda, said that the flowering of Hypatia's career occurred during the reign of Arcadius, after the death of Theodosius I in 395.

That author described the Alexandrian as a young woman and in the fullness of her beauty. However, Arcadio reigned from his proclamation as Augustus in 383.

That means that his government began before the death of his father, Theodosius I, as claimed by those who believe that he came to the world around 370.

Other references

The chronicler Juan Malalas, for his part, indicated that on the date of his death, in 415, Hypatia was close to sixty years old. To this is added that her favorite disciple, Sinesio, was under her tutelage in the 390s when she was about 20 years old.

The respect with which Sinesio addressed Hypatia could well be because she was an older woman than him or because she was his teacher. However, no one doubts that he would not have agreed to take classes from someone so close to his age.

Family

Hypatia's father, Theon, possessed one of the most respected intellects of his time, working as a philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. He was the author of various poems of which some texts were preserved, but he did not achieve a reputation as a poet of his time.

As an astronomer, your detailed observations of the 364 eclipses are very important in the field.

In mathematics, although he did not properly do any original work, his comments and annotations about the most popular works, such as Euclid's Elements, were of great importance in developing that science and their impact lasted until the 19th century.

Nothing is known about Hypatia's mother, some historians have assumed that she died giving birth to her daughter. For this reason, it is considered that the girl's education became the responsibility of her father, who instructed her in areas such as mathematical sciences, philosophy and physical education.

No brothers are known, although the possibility has been raised that Theon had a son named Epiphanius, to whom he dedicated his commentary on Book IV of Ptolemy's Almagest.

However, the Greek term used by Theon, "teknon", could also be towards someone for whom he felt a paternal affection, such as a favorite disciple.

Synesius, for example, called Theon "father", and referred to his classmates under Hypatia as "brother."

Race

From her childhood, Hypatia was immersed in the academic world of the city of Alexandria. In the philosophical field it was seen as the second Athens, since it was the epicenter of Greco-Roman knowledge of the time.

Under the tutelage of her father, Hypatia soon excelled in mathematics and astronomy. Although her jobs were not preserved, there are indications that she outperformed her father in these areas.

Alexandrian's comments on works such as Ptolemy's Almagest and Diophantus's Artimetic were highly appreciated. But it was his philosophical teachings that earned him the respect of the academic world of the time. Her students attended from all over the Mediterranean basin to listen to her talks.

Like her father, Hypatia rejected the teachings of Iamblichus and adopted the more purist Neoplatonist philosophy of Plotinus.

This current was much more open with different cultures and religions than the jamblica, so the reputation of the philosopher spread easily in the Christian world by not presenting contradictions with her beliefs.

The Christian historian Socrates the Scholastic records in his Ecclesiastical History that Hypatia spontaneously gave talks in the streets of the city dressed in a tribon (a simple garment associated with philosophers).

His talks were mostly about Plato and Aristotle.

Background to his death

Theophilus was the archbishop of Alexandria, that is, the highest religious authority in the city and a personal friend of Sinesio. That Christian leader did not support the Iamblic Neoplatonism, so he began to support Hypatia, who became a sort of ally of the archbishop.

She could freely practice and teach her Neoplatonist philosophy in the Plotinian current within the borders of Alexandria. Also her position allowed her to be related to the most important Roman officials, which made her a very popular and influential personality.

In fact, Orestes, who was serving as governor of Alexandria, was one of Hypatia's greatest admirers. This politician came to her when he needed advice on some important matter.

The archbishopric passed from Teófilo to Cirilo, his protégé, in 412. However, that did not happen without struggles; Cyril had not been openly appointed successor, prompting another possible candidate, Timothy, to try to take power and triggering Cyril's persecution of his allies.

Church vs. State

Political primacy was held by Orestes and the religious leadership was in the hands of Cyril. Both men also started a dispute to gain maximum control of the city.

The first, although Christian, considered that civil power should remain in the hands of civilians and the second wanted to take control of everything and create a theocratic state.

In 414 some Christians were murdered at the hands of Jews. As revenge they expelled them from the city, burned their temples and belongings. Orestes protested this situation before Constantinople. Later he executed the monk who incited the uprising: Ammonio.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Orestes and Hypatia continued. The first frequented the philosopher for advice. One of the great strengths of the Alexandrian and what had made her famous was her good judgment. In addition, the philosopher liked to stay out of the political and religious conflicts in the city.

Cyril at that point could only discredit Hypatia; He did so by spreading unhealthy rumors about her. Among the things that were said about the Alexandrine was the claim that she was guilty of the quarrel between him and Orestes by bewitching him.

She also accused her of being a worshiper of Satan. According to Cirilo that was what made her express interest in artistic and cultural activities.

Murder

Hypatia of Alexandria was assassinated in March 415 in her hometown. Socrates Scholastic commented in her works that a mob of Christians attacked the carriage in which philosophy was transported home.

After capturing her, they took her to the Kaisarion, a Christian temple that had once been part of the pagan Roman cult. In that compound they undressed her and stoned her to death.

It is also said that Hypatia had her eyes gouged out and dismembered after her death. After that they dragged her body to the outskirts of the city and burned it, it has been claimed that it was a custom within Alexandrian society.

The crematorium of the criminals corresponded with a traditional rite of purification of the city.

It has not been clarified whether the real people responsible for ending the days of the famous Hypatia of Alexandria were ordinary people or parabolans. Either way, the latter have commonly been held accountable.

The death of the philosopher was justified on religious grounds. However, it is well known that the act had inherent political intentions.

After his death

The entire Roman Empire was negatively impacted by the brutal assassination of Hypatia of Alexandria. No evidence was ever found to link her death to Archbishop Cyril directly.

In any case, it was an open secret that the campaign of hatred that the archbishop launched against the philosopher had great notoriety. That was one of the causes that prompted the crowd to act against her.

The emperor Theodosius II ordered an investigation against Cyril and tried to take away his authority over the Parabolans to give it to Orestes. Despite this, during the 420s Cyril managed to seize power in Alexandria.

Hypatia's memory came to be admired for the torture to which she was subjected. Thus it was that the philosopher became a symbol of Roman paganism against Christianity. The Alexandrian also obtained the place of martyr of Christendom in Byzantium.

In fact, the Christians years later created the figure of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She was inspired by the story of Hypatia and gave her the characteristics of the philosopher, as well as those of her death.

With the passage of time Hypatia was accepted as a symbol of the intelligentsia and reason against barbarism. It also became a feminist emblem for the intellectual and social achievements it achieved within its historical context.

Philosophy

Hypatia of Alexandria followed the Neoplatonist current, specifically the one proposed by Plotinus. She became the leader of that philosophical school in her hometown, it had great prestige at the time. Alexandria's intellectual renown was second only to Athens.

The evolution of Neoplatonism became different currents, each with its own nuances. However, they all shared something: the common factor was that they all used the theory of forms as a foundation, which was proposed by Plato.

Background

First were the Hellenists, represented by Plutarch and the Neo-Pythagoreans. They made a synthesis of the customs that were accepted by different cultures, as well as the ideas of each one of them.

Later the witness to this philosophy was taken by Saccas, a Christian intellectual who also absorbed influences from Hindu thought to a great extent. He was in charge of teaching Plotinus and in his work he tried to reconcile what was proposed by Plato and Aristotle, as well as Christians and pagans.

In the eyes of some authors, Saccas can be considered the original precursor of Neoplatonism and was the philosophical banner of Christians for a time.

Plotinus

The student seems to have surpassed the teacher in the case of Saccas and Plotinus. It is the latter whom everyone accepts as the creator of the Neoplatonist philosophical current, which after future divisions also came to have the word "Plotinian" to differentiate it from other approaches.

Plotinus had very varied influences that ranged from classical Greek, through Egyptian (which was his traditional culture), as well as Hindu thanks to his teacher and also took elements of Persian culture.

This rich cultural mix made Plotinus an important thinker who could be appreciated in equal measure by Jews, Christians, Pagans and Islamists.

This philosopher raised the existence of a "supreme indivisible, irreplicable and indistinguishable entity." For Plotinus, "being" was a sum of lived experiences.

That is why the entity proposed by Plotinus was located above all things, including "being". I mean, although it was a set of things, but it was none specifically.

Iamblichus

Plotinus had a student named Porphyry, who became an opponent of Christianity and gave his unconditional support to pagan customs. In any case, he justified his behavior by saying that he did not despise the figure of Christ, but the sectarianism of the Christians.

In turn, Porfirio also took a student: Iamblico. With the Neoplatonist legacy of Plotinus modified by his teacher, this philosopher leaned even more towards the practices of Greek paganism and took it to a higher level.

Iamblichus not only included religiosity in his philosophical approaches, in the style of his teacher, but he also added a magical element to the theories he professed. That was the current that was antagonistic to the practices of Hypatia of Alexandria.

Hypatia and Neoplatonism

Because Hypatia followed the Plotinian side of Neoplatonism, she was very open with the religious sphere, both in her teachings and in her admission of students.

That allowed him to take as pupils people who came from different places and with varied beliefs. In fact, it is said that aspiring philosophers traveled from all over the Mediterranean to Alexandria to receive Hypatia's lessons.

She was the representative of the moderate current of Neoplatonism, while in the Serapeo the radical variant that had been proposed by Iamblichus was taught. Both practices and schools coexisted in Alexandria.

The teachings of Aristotle and Plato were one of the main subjects that the philosopher imparted to her students. Furthermore, Hypatia was famous for spontaneous public speaking and had a high status in local society, a rare trait in women of the time.

His philosophical approach was directly related to the figure of "He", which was the same "supreme entity" raised by Plotinus.

Those interested in knowing the nature of this concept could approach it by abstracting from Plato's plane of forms.

Times of changes

Hypatia did not want to be part of the intense religious debates that took place during her life.

He stood aside in contemporary polemics and focused on replicating his knowledge in anyone who possessed the desire to receive instruction regardless of creed.

During the mandate of Bishop Theophilus, Hypatia was able to freely exercise her intellectual activity in the city of Alexandria. All this was made possible by the friendship between the bishop and Sinesio, who had been Hypatia's student, friend, and admirer.

Hypatia chose to remain a virgin all her life since she considered that true love was not lust, but that which was directed to beauty and ideas. Another factor that could contribute to this was the status it gave her within the society of her time.

Contributions

- Maths

Hypatia was one of the first women, of whom there are historical records, who dedicated themselves to the study and teaching of mathematics, since at that time the knowledge of these subjects was generally reserved for men.

He inherited his penchant for mathematics from Theon, his father. Some sources even claim that she surpassed him in terms of mastering this matter. Hypatia is known to have made several comments to recognized works in that area.

At that time the "comments" were comparable to what we know today as editing or reissuing, that is why in contemporary terms she would be considered a text editor.

It should be noted that the way to reproduce a book in his time was to copy it by hand.

Hypatia of Alexandria made a commentary on Conics of Apollonius. However, no copies of this edition are preserved, her participation in that work is known from the testimony given by Socrates the Scholastic in her Ecclesiastical History.

- Astronomy

It has been suggested that the third book of Ptolemy's Almagest, commented on by Theon, was actually the work of his daughter Hypatia. If so, that would be one of the few works carried out by the Alexandrine to transcend time, although having been proven incorrect it lost much of its relevance.

In the Almagest some of the subjects that are tried to clarify are the duration of a year and the nature of the sun.

Hipparchus's discoveries about the precession of the equinoxes and epicycles are also addressed in the work of Ptolemy, which was commented on by Hypatia. Epicycles were a mathematical model with which planetary movements could be predicted.

However, having made the theory with the belief that the planets and the sun revolved around the earth, all the consequent approaches of Ptolemy were a failure. When the error was discovered in this work, few gave it more importance.

- Algebra

Another of the works that was commented on by Hypatia was that of Diophantus: Arithmetic, which consisted of 13 books. Only one of them managed to be preserved until more recent times, said copy dealt with polygonal numbers.

Some think that Hypatia's comment served as a model for the many versions of this work that exist.

In this work algebraic equations and their solutions are shown, probably part of the problem included in the book was the work of Alexandrina to explain to her students in a practical way.

There are six Greek versions of Diophantus's Arithmetic, four copies were also found in Arabic, the latter are thought to be translations of the original text of the philosopher.

Other contributions

- Astrolabe

Many of the records about Hypatia's life come from what she discussed with her friend Sinesio. In one of the texts written by him, titled De Dono Astrolabii, Sinesio claimed that he had managed to design an astrolabe with the help of the Alexandrian.

It is believed that said artifact could have been originally devised by Ptolemy, that knowledge must have been acquired by Theon who transmitted it to Hypatia and she in turn passed the concept on to her student and friend Sinesio.

The astrolabe was a kind of mechanical model of the sky and its workings. The objective of this could be to predict the behavior of some celestial bodies or, simply, to be exposed as a curiosity.

- Hydroscope

In one of the letters between Sinesio and Hypatia, the former expressed to his teacher that he wished to have an artifact that he refers to as a hydroscope. He added to the letter the specifications that had to be followed to carry it out.

It is not known exactly why he needed Hypatia's help to build it. The theory that has been accepted is that Sinesio was ill and his illness kept him in bed. That situation forced him to want to recover quickly and that is why he needed his teacher and friend to help him.

Some have argued that the word hydroscope referred to a water clock, but that did not seem urgent enough to commission Hypatia to make it. The apparatus that the Alexandrine made for Sinesio was a hydrometer.

This has been concluded from the description of the hydroscope that was shown on the chart. It could be used to measure the density of a liquid and in this way perhaps it was used to prepare or dose a medicine that Sinesio needed to treat his disease.

Plays

Of all the works of Hypatia of Alexandria, no original specimen has been preserved to this day. That is why her work was only registered by other authors and the references they gave or by inference when observing traces of their methods in later texts.

- Commentary on the Arithmetic of Diophantus of Alexandria. Paul Tannery suggested that Hypatia was the original source of four of those books that were found translated into Arabic with some additions such as exercises and their solutions following the methods of Theon.

- Astronomical Canon.

- Commentary on the third book of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy (probable author, although the texts were signed by his father, Theon).

- Revision of the Astronomical Tables of Claudius Ptolemy.

- Commentary on the Conic Sections of Apollonius.

- Edition of On the measure of a circle, by Archimedes. Wilbur Knorr presumes that she may have been the author of one of the editions that were made of this work. This was justified by the method used in its development, which coincides with those of other works attributed to Hypatia.

Quotes

In reality, original phrases of Hypatia of Alexandria are not preserved since the texts and works that the philosopher carried out during her life, in the same way as her letters, were lost with the passage of time.

However, others of those who shared with her in her time left traces of the existence of the Alexandrian who was extraordinary among the women of her time. One of those testimonies attributed the following quote to the philosopher:

- “Actually, young man, this is what you love. But it is not beautiful at all ”. It is said that she uttered that while showing one of her menstrual pads to a boy who was pretending to make her fall in love. The phrase is attributed to him by Damascio.

Other

Most of the phrases that have been circulated as Hypatia originals were actually written by Elbert Hubbard, an American author who wrote Little Trips to the Homes of the Great Masters.

However, many consider that he took the opportunity to promote his own agenda, moving away from the reality of the philosophical thought professed by Hypatia.

- "Understanding the things that surround us is the best preparation to understand what lies beyond."

- "All religious dogmas are fallacious and should never be accepted as absolute by people who respect themselves."

- "Fables must be taught as fables, myths as myths and miracles as poetic fantasies."

- "Reserve your right to think, since thinking wrongly is better than not thinking at all."

- "Governing by chaining the mind with the fear of punishment from another world is as basic as using force."

- "Teaching superstitions as truths is the most terrible thing."

- "Men will fight for a superstition as soon as they will fight for a truth."

- "A superstition cannot be refuted since it is intangible, but the truth is a point of view, consequently it is variable."

- "Life is a development and the more we travel, the more we can understand."

References

1. En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hypatia. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Deakin, M., 2020. Hypatia - Death, Facts, & Biography. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: britannica.com.
3. Zielinski, S., 2020. Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria'S Great Female Scholar. Smithsonian Magazine. Available at: smithsonianmag.com.
4. Mark, J., 2020. Hypatia Of Alexandria. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Available at: ancient.eu.
5. Anderson, M., Katz, V. and Wilson, R., 2014. Sherlock Holmes In Babylon. Washington: Mathematical Association of America; pp. 46 - 59.
6. Goodreads.com. 2020. Hypatia Quotes. Available at: goodreads.com.