Hypatia

(Ὑπατία), a lady of Alexandria, daughter of Theon, by whom she was instructed in philosophy and mathematics. She soon made such immense progress in these branches of knowledge, that she is said to have presided over the Neoplatonician school of Plotinus at Alexandria, where she expounded the principles of his system to a numerous auditory. She appears to have been most graceful, modest, and beautiful, but nevertheless to have been a victim to slander and falsehood. She was accused of too much familiarity with Orestes, prefect of Alexandria, and the charge spread among the clergy, who took up the notion that she interrupted the friendship of Orestes with their archbishop, Cyril. In consequence of this, a number of them, at whose head was a reader named Peter, seized her in the street, and dragged her from her chariot into one of the churches, where they stripped her and tore her to pieces. Theodoret accuses Cyril of sanctioning this proceeding; but Cave (Script. Eccl. Hist. Lit. vol. i.) holds this to be incredible, though on no grounds except his own opinion of Cyril's general character. Philostorgius, the Arian historian, urges her death as a charge against the Ilomoousians. Synesius valued her greatly, and addressed to her several letters, inscribed τῇ φιλοσόφῳ, in one of which he calls her mother, sister, mistress, and benefactress. Suidas says that she married Isidorus, and wrote some works on astronomy and other subjects. In Stephanus Baluzius (Concil. i. p. 216) an epistle is extant professing to be Hypatia's addressed to Cyril, in which she advocates the cause of Nestorius, and regrets his banishment; but this must be spurious, if it be true, as Socrates asserts that she was killed A. D. 415, for Nestorius was not banished till A. D. 436. (Socrat. 7.15; Niceph. 14.16; Menage, Hist. Mulierum Philosoph. 49; Suidas, s.v. J. Ch. Wernsdorf, Dissertat. Acad. IV. de Hypartia, Viteberg. 1747.) [G.E.L.C]

(Ὑπατία). A mathematician of Alexandria, daughter of Theon , and still more celebrated than her father. She was born about the end of the fourth century. In her studies she applied herself in particular to the philosophy of Plato. Following the example of her master, she resolved to add to her information by travelling; and, having reached Athens, attended there the lectures of the ablest instructors. On her return to her native city, she was invited by the magistrates to give lectures in philosophy, and Alexandria beheld a woman succeed to that long line of illustrious teachers which had rendered its school one of the most celebrated in the world. She was an Eclectic; but the exact sciences formed the basis of all her instruction, and she applied their demonstrations to the principles of the speculative sciences. She numbered among her disciples many celebrated men, among others Synesius, afterwards bishop of Ptolemaïs, who preserved during his whole life the most friendly feelings towards her, although she constantly refused to become a convert to Christianity. Hypatia united to a masculine intellect many of the attractions and all the virtues of her sex. Her dress was remarkable for its simplicity; her conduct was always above suspicion; and she knew well how to compel the respect of those of her auditors who felt the influence of her charms. All idea of marriage was constantly rejected by her as threatening to interfere with her devotion to her favourite studies. Orestes, governor of Alexandria, admired the talents of Hypatia, and frequently had recourse to her for advice. He was desirous of repressing the too ardent zeal of St. Cyril, who saw in Hypatia one of the principal supports of paganism. The partisans of the bishop, on their side, beheld in the measures of the governor the result of the counsels of Hypatia; the most fanatical of their number, in March, A.D. 415, seized upon Hypatia as she was proceeding to her school, forced her to descend from her chariot, and dragged her into a neighbouring church, where, stripped of her vestments, she was put to death by her brutal foes. Her body was hacked to pieces with oyster-shells, and the bloody remains were dragged through the streets and finally burned.

The works of Hypatia were lost in the burning of the Alexandrian Library. In the number of these were a commentary on Diophantus, an Astronomical Canon, and a commentary on the Conics of Apollonius of Perga. The very names of her other productions are lost. The Greek Anthology contains an epigram in praise of Hypatia, attributed to Paulus Silentiarius. Canon Kingsley's historical romance (London, 1853) has done much to make her name familiar to English readers. See the exhaustive monograph on Hypatia by Hoche in the Philologus, xv. 435 foll. (1860).