Hypatia

Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 350–415 CE) was a Greek scholar who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Roman Empire. She was a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, and the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a noted mathematician who supervised the Library of Alexandria. Hypatia is described in late antique sources as a prominent teacher and public intellectual who taught philosophy and mathematics in Alexandria and who pursued the Neoplatonist school’s approach to science and rational inquiry.

Her reputation rests on accounts of her teaching and commentaries on mathematical and astronomical writings, including works attributed to Diophantus of Alexandria and Apollonius of Perga, as well as her role in the preservation and interpretation of scientific texts. No writings by Hypatia survive with certainty; what is known comes from secondary sources such as Synesius of Cyrene and later historians.

She was killed in 415 CE by a Christian mob, during political-religious upheaval in Alexandria. The exact motives remain debated, but the event is commonly linked to factional conflicts involving the bishop Cyril of Alexandria and the city’s pagan and philosophical communities. Her death is often cited as a symbolic turning point in the decline of classical antiquity’s intellectual life, though historians debate simple cause-and-effect narratives.

Legacy: Hypatia became a symbol of learning, scientific inquiry, and intellectual courage in later centuries, influencing literary and philosophical treatments and modern reassessments of women in science. She remains a central figure in discussions of late antique science and the history of mathematics and philosophy.