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Hypatia

Hypatia Hypatia was born in the year 370 AD in Alexandria, Egypt. She was the daughter of Theon, a famous mathematician and astronomer. He invented many things, but his most famous invention is the astrolabe, which measures the altitude of a star or planet. Hypatia studied with her father for many years at the Museum in Alexandria, but soon became unsatisfied with his instruction because she was smarter than him. She left Egypt, and traveled to Greece and Rome to do "post-graduate" work. Her brains and beauty gave her a wonderful reputation throughout the capitols near the Mediterranean. When she returned to her homeland, everyone wanted to be taught by her. She not only gave lectures on philosophy, but also tutored. Hypatia became good friends with Orestes, the Roman governor of Alexandria, and would later become one of his closest advisors. She also became pals with Synesius, who became bishop of Ptolmais thanks to Hypatia’s ingenuity. Much of what we know about Hypatia today is from the letters Synesius wrote to her. In one letter, Synesius wrote to his friend, "You always have power and long may you have it and make good use of that power. The ancient encyclopedia Suda also tells us a little bit about Hypatia. It tells us that when she was 31, she became director of the museum in Alexandria. This museum was brought the top scientists from all around Europe to work and do research there. Some of these mathematicians and scientists were Euclid, Galen, and Archimedes. This museum was considered to be one of the finest and most outstanding buildings at the time. It was built by Ptolemy, the ruler of Egypt after Alexander the Great, in 300 B.C. Next to the museum Ptolemy built a library which was considered the greatest library of the ancient world. However, the Julius Caesar’s army burned it down accidentally. Some archaeologists called this "the greatest disaster in the ancient world." During Hypatia’s life, there was bitter rivalry between the pagans and Christians of the Mediterranean. Hypatia was a pagan herself, but taught both Christian and non-Christian students. The pagans and Christians were battling over who had more power, and in March of 415 AD, it was the Christians who had the most power. These two groups were trying to drive each other out of Alexandria. During this time period, many pagans converted over to Christianity because they feared for their lives. Hypatia refused to convert, however. Most of the scholars back then did convert, but this woman scholar for some reason refused. Hypatia’s friend Orestes, who I mentioned before was the Roman governor of Alexandria, was attacked by a group of fanatical Christian a few weeks before Hypatia was. Orestes was a pagan like Hypatia which is the reason for the attack on him. He somehow managed the escape the crazed mob. He wasn’t even injured by the monks. One monk, his name was Peter, was arrested and put to trial. The court had him executed. This decision enraged the church leaders and increased the hatred between the Christians and pagans. The leader of the Christian church, Cyril, then supposedly ordered an attack on Hypatia, because she was a powerful and popular pagan. The bishop denied doing this, and nobody really knows to this day who really ordered it or who was responsible. Eyewitnesses said that a group of monks surrounded Hypatia. They then grabbed her and dragged her into the Caesarium which is now St. Michael’s church. Inside the church they tore off her clothes. They took sharpened oysters and peeled her body with them. They stabbed her with they oysters and scraped the skin from her body. The band of monks then took her dead body and threw it into a bonfire. Because she was such a martyr and died in such a violent manner, she was insured that her name would live on. She was a very rare woman in those days because she was not only a mathematician and a scientist, but that she was scientist too. She is the most written about woman in history. The result of Hypatia’s success didn’t have an up side, but instead really had a down side. I say this because women became frightened to be creative and have a man’s job. It would be 700 years before there would be another woman who dared to be a scientist. Hypatia was not only a mathematician, but a philosopher, geometer, and astronomer as well. She wrote one science and two math books. She also wrote many other papers on all of the above subjects. Unfortunately, they have all been lost. Hypatia’s father Theon wrote many papers and a few books as well, only they weren’t lost. It is believed that she wrote his book on Ptolemy, entitled Almagest. It is also said that she wrote Theon’s version of Euclid’s thirteen books on geometry, entitled The Elements. These two books, or 14 books, which ever way you want to look at it, are very important because they tell us basically all that was known about math and science back then. She was also an inventor. Hypatia came up with an instrument for distilling water. She also invented an instrument to measure the specific gravity of water. Hypatia also invented a planisphere, which measures the velocity of solid objects through uncontaminated liquids. Bibliography:

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