#hypatia
‘hypatia’ - julius kronberg (1889)
hypatia is not only famous for her academic feats, though they are impressive in themselves; she was the greatest mathematician and astronomer of her time, as well as the leader of the neoplatonist school of philosophy in alexandria. on top of this, she spectacularly overcame the profound sexism of her society. however, it’s likely that her death is more relevant to this painting - she suffered an unspeakably violent and cruel death at the hands of an ignorant christian mob of men. the terrified expression captured by kronberg could perhaps serve as foreshadowing to this event, as well as the small crucifix being paraded in the background. hypatia’s remains were burned in a mock of pagan sacrifice, her death marking the triumph of christianity over the paganism of the ancient world.
It’s movie time! Everyone go watch Alejandro Amenábar's 2009 film Agora. It’s on Netflix instant! Agora is a mostly-accurate look at Alexandria, one of the most important cities of its day, as the traditional political, cultural, and philosophical frameworks were slipping and changing in the late fourth and early fifth centuries CE.
One of the foremost citizens of Alexandria in this time period was the philosopher Hypatia, whose father Theon was a brilliant mathematician in his own right, and who herself was considered the greatest philosopher since Plotinus a hundred years before. Hypatia had a circle of intellectually-minded elites whom she tutored in astronomy and mathematics, and when they were ready, she taught them what some of her students called “philosophical mysteries”. The rational truth about the order of the universe! Wow!
So Hypatia being an expert in ethics was a key political figure in her day and the ruling class in Alexandria knew to trust her judgment on thorny political problems. For instance, what do you do when factions of your population are trapping each other in enclosed spaces to stone them to death? I don’t know, I’m not an expert. Too bad all of Hypatia’s works are lost.
Agora also tackles the difficult historical figure of Bishop Cyril, who is today a Doctor of the Church but who was pretty much universally reviled by his contemporaries for being a transparently power-hungry demagogue! No spoilers here but you can imagine that there might be some serious clashes between Cyril and the Roman governor of Egypt, Orestes, who was a big fan of Hypatia’s rational advice.
Agora isn’t totally 100% accurate. For instance, despite what Enlightenment-era treatises on the Beautiful Youthefulle Lady Pfilosopher would have you believe, Hypatia was around 60 years old at her death. I guess it would have been a little weird to put Rachel Weisz in age makeup for half the movie.
All the same, I’m pretty impressed that one movie is able to illustrate so many aspects of Alexandria in this time period: mob politics, the rise of Christian political power, crazy Greek astrophysics, the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, ancient Greek flute music! It’s all there!
Sometimes this movie might seem like it’s co-opting Hypatia to make her a symbol instead of a real historical person. If that’s so, Amenábar’s hardly the first to do so; maybe as early as 25 or 30 years after her death, folks were writing fake letters “by Hypatia” justifying their kooky heretical beliefs. Check back soon for some incredible, unbelievable (don’t believe it or you’ll see brimstone) facts about heresies of the early Church!
For a less-academic but well-researched read on Hypatia’s life, her circle of students, and her use as legend, check out Maria Dzielska's Hypatia of Alexandria:
http://www.amazon.com/Hypatia-Alexandria-Revealing-Antiquity-Dzielska/dp/0674437764
