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Hypatia of Alexandria Timeline
(c. 355 CE – 415 CE)Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 355–415 CE) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and Neoplatonist philosopher who taught at the Library-influenced school in Alexandria, Egypt. She was one of the most prominent scholars of antiquity and the first woman in recorded history to make substantial contributions to mathematics and astronomy. Her brutal murder by a Christian mob in 415 CE marked a turning point often cited as symbolic of the decline of classical learning. More Less
Ancient Life and Death
Pandrosion precedes Hypatia in Alexandria
350
Hypatia was not the only fourth century Alexandrian female mathematician; she was preceded by Pandrosion, another female mathematician associated with the city.
Image source: Pandrosion
Two varieties of Neoplatonism taught in Alexandria
380
According to Watts, two main varieties of Neoplatonism were taught in Alexandria during the late fourth century, shaping the philosophical environment in which Hypatia worked.
Image source: Neoplatonism
Destruction of the Serapeum
391
Christians led by Theophilus destroyed the Serapeum in 391 AD. Although later myths link Hypatia's death to the Library of Alexandria, the library had already ceased to exist in any recognizable form centuries before her birth.
Image source: Serapeum of Alexandria
Hypatia flourishes under Arcadius
395 - 408
According to Damascius's lost work Life of Isidore, preserved in the Suda, a tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia, Hypatia flourished during the reign of the emperor Arcadius.
Image source: Hypatia
Murder of Hypatia by a Christian mob
415
Hypatia was murdered by a mob of Christians in Alexandria. Her death sent shockwaves throughout the empire; for centuries philosophers had been seen as effectively untouchable during displays of public violence, and the murder of a female philosopher was seen as profoundly dangerous and destabilizing.
Hellenistic philosophy continues after Hypatia
415 - 565
Neoplatonism and paganism both survived for centuries after Hypatia's death. Christian Wildberg notes that Hellenistic philosophy continued to flourish in the 5th and 6th centuries, perhaps until the age of Justinian I, and new lecture halls were built in Alexandria after her death.
Image source: Hellenistic philosophy
Legacy and Scholarship
Theon's edition of Euclid's Elements
364
The edition of Euclid's Elements prepared by Hypatia's father Theon became the most widely used edition of the textbook for centuries and almost totally supplanted all other editions.
Image source: Euclid's Elements
Earliest attestation of the cult of Saint Catherine
700 - 799
The earliest attestation for the cult of Saint Catherine comes from the eighth century, around three hundred years after Hypatia's death; in Laodikeia in Asia Minor Hypatia continued to be venerated as identical to St. Catherine until the late 19th century.
Image source: Catherine of Alexandria
Eudokia Makrembolitissa called a second Hypatia
1021 - 1096
The intellectual Eudokia Makrembolitissa (1021–1096), second wife of Byzantine emperor Constantine X Doukas, was described by the historian Nicephorus Gregoras as a 'second Hypatia'.
Image source: Eudokia Makrembolitissa
John Toland's anti-Catholic tract on Hypatia
1720
Early eighteenth-century Deist scholar John Toland used the murder of Hypatia as the basis for an anti-Catholic tract, portraying her death in the worst possible light by changing the story and inventing elements not found in any ancient sources.
Image source: John Toland
Key Facts
- Hypatia was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, a mathematician and scholar who personally educated her in mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.
- She taught philosophy and mathematics at the Platonist school in Alexandria, attracting students from across the Mediterranean world, including Christians and pagans alike.
- Hypatia contributed commentaries on important works, including Diophantus's 'Arithmetica' and Apollonius's 'Conics,' and is associated with improvements to astronomical instruments like the astrolabe.
- She served as an advisor to Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, which placed her in the middle of political conflicts with Cyril, the city's Christian bishop.
- In March 415 CE, Hypatia was murdered by a mob of Christian zealots who stripped her, dragged her through the streets, and killed her inside a church, making her death a symbol of the decline of classical antiquity.
Source
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