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HYPATIA of ALEXANDRIA? Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection Paul British Art, for Center Yale Bill of Rights Constitutional Rights in Action Foundation FALL 2018 Volume 34 No1 WHO WAS HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA? Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection British Art, Paul for Center Yale A 19th century British artist’s depiction of Hypatia teaching at Alexandria. As you read, notice how people’s perceptions of Hypatia’s story have varied over the centuries. Hypatia of Alexandria was a philosopher, astronomer, mathe- In the 4th century CE when Hypatia lived, one major matician, and political advisor of great renown in her day. Unfor- school of philosophy was Neoplatonism, which literally tunately, it is likely that none of her philosophical or meant “new Platonism.” Neoplatonism was a renewal of mathematical written work survives. But several historical ac- counts of her life and work do. Her violent death in 415 CE at the Plato’s philosophy that forms (ideas) are more real than hands of a Christian mob has been a source of debate ever since. the physical world. Ideas could take on mystical and spir- itual qualities. Neoplatonist philosophy even influenced Hypatia was born sometime between 350 and 370 several Christian thinkers in its time, as well as Jewish CE in Alexandria in northern Egypt. The Greek con- and Islamic thinkers later in the Middle Ages. queror Alexander the Great founded the city in the third As a Neoplatonist, Hypatia had a primary interest century BCE. Alexandria later became a cosmopolitan in discovering the mathematical structures that under- crossroads of the Roman Empire and was a major seaport gird the natural world. Hypatia may have written com- and center of learning and industry. mentaries on the works of Euclid and Ptolemy that Hypatia came from an academic family. Theon, her were influential in her day but are now lost to history. father, headed a school in Alexandria known as the Mou- She also studied astronomy. She is one of the only seion. Hypatia later taught there. (The Mouseion was people in the world who was able to construct a plane named for the Greek muses, and it is the origin of the astrolabe (see sidebar on page 2). English word museum.) SCIENCE MATTERS Supplemental The first article in this issue analyzes the life and death of the philosopher, astronomer, and mathe- Activities! matician Hypatia of Alexandria in the Roman Empire. The second article examines the controversy sur- Teacher-leaders rounding a successful inoculation program against smallpox in the 18th century and Cotton Mather’s key from CRF’s T2T Collab role in it. The third article is an updated account of a 2002 BRIA article on current political and scien- have created innovative tific issues related to human-caused global warming. activities for lessons in this World History: Who Was Hypatia of Alexandria? by Aimée Koeplin, Ph.D. issue! Look for the T2T sym- U.S. History: Cotton Mather and Boston’s Smallpox Inoculation Fight by longtime contributor Carlton Martz bol to access activities in U.S. Government/Current Issues: Global Warming and the Paris Agreement by Carlton Martz, with the online editions. contributions by Damon Huss © 2018, Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles. All Constitutional Rights Foundation materials and publications, including Bill of Rights in Action, are protected by copyright. However, we hereby grant to all recipients a license to reproduce all material contained herein for distribution to students, other school site personnel, and district administrators. (ISSN: 1534-9799) A Plane Astrolabe The Mouseion met in and around the buildings surrounding the celebrated Library of Alexandria and Hypatia was one of the few people who had the the temple of the Egyptian-Greek sun god Serapis. We knowledge necessary to construct a plane astro- know that Hypatia was a highly sought-after teacher labe. The plane astrolabe measures the in- clined position of heavenly bodies in the Mouseion. Commons/ Wikimedia 3.0) BY l(CC Garcia Luis (stars and planets). As- Her students and disciples included members of tronomers used it to pre- Alexandrian society as well as prominent families from dict the movements of all over the Roman Empire. Many of her students at the heavenly bodies. Mouseion were Christians. Some went on to become Sailors used it to navigate at sea. bishops in the Christian church. She was an advisor Others used it to to Orestes, the Roman prefect (governor) in Alexan- survey land and dria. He, too, had been her student. for timekeeping. Visiting dignitaries and Roman emissaries vis- The plane astro- ited Alexandria to hear Hypatia’s lectures and ask labe had a more her advice on matters of state. Hypatia may have compact and eas- ily usable size than even traveled to Athens for some years as a visiting the globe astrolabe, scholar. and it remained in use Religious Tensions into the 19th century. When Hypatia was born, all of the prominent ruling families of Alexandria were pagans who worshipped the Bishop Theophilus declared one school of Neopla- Greek gods. Hypatia also was a pagan. In 313 CE, Chris- tonic thought to be a heresy. Heresy is a belief that con- tianity became legal throughout the Roman Empire. For flicts with established Christian beliefs. But Theophilus many years, pagans and Christians coexisted peacefully favored Hypatia’s version of Neoplatonism and allowed in Alexandria. its study to continue. Toward the end of the 4th century CE, tensions When Theophilus died unexpectedly in 412, a dis- between old-guard pagans and newly ascendant pute broke out over who would succeed him. Would Christians rose. In 380 CE, Christianity became the the new bishop be Timothy, Theophilus’s acolyte and official religion of the Roman Empire. This marked a heir apparent? Or would it be Cyril, Theophilus’s profound social change. The reli- nephew? Hypatia backed Timothy, gious balance in Alexandria shifted who had been a student of hers at the very quickly, and Christians who Hypatia found Mouseion. But Cyril was eventually had been previously criminalized chosen to be bishop. for their religious beliefs became herself in Cyril entered into a bitter dispute the ruling class. In 391 CE, with the governor of Roman Egypt, Theophilus, the Christian bishop of the crossfire Orestes — another student of Hypa- Alexandria, ordered the destruction of several tia’s. Orestes was a former pagan who of the highly regarded Temple of recently converted to Christianity. He Serapis, an important location for political feuds. and Cyril clashed over who would members of Hypatia’s Mouseion. A have greater authority in the Egyptian mob cut the statue of Serapis into province. Orestes represented Roman authority, while pieces and then burned them. Cyril represented local Christian authority. Alexandria also had the largest Jewish popula- When Cyril expelled Jews from Alexandria, Orestes tion of any ancient city outside of ancient Israel. was outraged. Cyril attempted to make peace with During conflicts in 414 or 415, Bishop Theophilus’s Orestes, but Orestes refused. Some Christian monks successor, St. Cyril of Alexandria, expelled the Jew- falsely accused Orestes of being pagan and even at- ish community from the city, seizing their property tacked him in the street. Orestes, in turn, had a promi- and places of worship. nent monk tortured to death. Other Christians accused Caught in the Middle Hypatia of counseling Orestes not to make amends with Hypatia found herself in the crossfire of several po- Cyril and for keeping him away from the influence of litical feuds. She was a pagan in a time when Christi- the Church. anity was expanding. As Christians increased in In March of 415, Hypatia became a victim of these number, they gained political influence. And conflicts tensions. On her way home from a lecture, an angry Chris- with pagans increased, too. tian mob linked to Bishop Cyril captured her carriage. 2 WORLDWORLD HISTORY HISTORY BRIA 34:1 (Fall 2018) (c) Constitutional Rights Foundation - www.crf-usa.org Wimimedia Commons Wimimedia A depiction of Hypatia’s death published in France in 1865. They dragged her through the streets and into a church The third account was John of Nikiù’s Chronicle (ca. known as the Caesareum. This was the main church in 690), written more than 250 years after the incident. the city and the seat of Bishop Cyril. John of Nikiù was a Christian bishop who cast Hypatia Inside the Caesareum, they stripped Hypatia naked as deserving of her fate. He invoked the idea of sorcery and hacked her to death with “ostraka.” (Ostraka could and claimed that she “beguiled many people through Sa- be translated as either “roof tiles” or “oyster shells”.) As tanic wiles.” He also claimed that Hypatia “enchanted” with the statue of Serapis, the mob dragged her dis- Prefect Orestes and led him away from the church. membered limbs into the streets and burned them out- The Story of Saint Catherine side the city walls. She was probably over 60 years old Hypatia’s story bears a striking resemblance to the when she died. legendary story of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Ac- Interpreting Hypatia cording to legend, Catherine lived from 287 – 305 CE. How should we understand Hypatia’s story? After She was a well-educated Alexandrian, conversant in all, it is difficult to know after the centuries everything philosophy and mathematics. At age 14, Catherine that really happened. We have only five documents that converted to Christianity after having a vision of the are considered primary sources for Hypatia’s life and Madonna and Child. death. Of these five, three seem especially useful for Christianity was still an illegal, underground reli- understanding her story. gion during Catherine’s life. Eventually, pagan authori- The first account we get of her death is Socrates ties discovered Catherine’s faith.
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