Greece & Rome · born c. 350–370; died 415
Hypatia
Mathematician and Neoplatonist teacher in Alexandria
Taught Platonic philosophy, astronomy and mathematics to pagan and Christian students alike and was a respected public figure. She was murdered by a Christian mob in 415 amid a political feud; none of her writings survives with certainty.
Life and thought
Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, a mathematician and astronomer in Alexandria; her birth year is unknown, perhaps between 350 and 370. She worked with her father on editions and commentaries on Ptolemy and Euclid, and led a Neoplatonic circle that taught philosophy, astronomy and mathematics to pagans and Christians alike. Her student Synesius, later a bishop, wrote her admiring letters that survive; none of her own writings does with certainty.
She taught a Platonism in the line of Plotinus, in which mathematics trains the mind to rise from the senses toward the intelligible, and she was a public figure consulted by the city’s officials. That role cost her her life. In March 415, amid a bitter feud between the prefect Orestes, her friend, and the bishop Cyril, a Christian mob led by a man named Peter seized and killed her. Her death has since been made a symbol of many things: the end of pagan learning, religious violence, and women in science.
Shaped by
c. 204–270PlotinusFounder of Neoplatonism, teaching in RomeMeanwhile, in other traditions
c. 4th–5th c. CEVasubandhuAbhidharma master who became Yogācāra’s great systematiserc. 2nd–5th c. CE (dates uncertain)UmāsvātiAuthor of the Jain text accepted by both main sectsc. 4th–5th c. CEĪśvarakṛṣṇaAuthor of the classical summary of Sāṃkhyac. 4th–5th c. CE? (dating disputed)PatañjaliCompiler of the Yoga Sūtra354–430Augustine of HippoNorth African bishop who fused Christianity with Platonismfl. 5th c. CEBuddhaghosaTheravāda commentator who systematised doctrine in Sri LankaOn the record
Hypatia was born c. 360.
Her birth year is unknown: suggestions range from about 350 to 370 (MacTutor follows Mueller’s “370?”; Maria Dzielska argued for about 355). Her death in March 415 at the hands of a Christian mob, amid the feud between the bishop Cyril and the prefect Orestes, is well attested. None of her writings survives; she worked with her father Theon on commentaries on Ptolemy and Euclid.
Sources: MacTutor History of Mathematics, “Hypatia of Alexandria”