Hypatia of Alexandria(Facts popular historians lik

The late antique philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria has according to Professor Edward J Watts become the Greeco-Roman worlds fifth most well known philosopher which have a loot to do with her being lifted up by history popularizes like Carl Sagan and Bettany Hughes(plus that movie from 2009).

While they usually like to present Hypatia as a generic twentieth century free-thinker I think most people who cover her in the media and in some literature often miss or suppress several important aspects that I think are essential to understand who Hypatia really was. The most important ones are...

- The power in society Hypatia obtained via her connections with the city council and her students.

- Hypatia´s philosophical believes about the world, herself and her relationship to God and how her spiritual metaphysics was tied to her works in mathematics and astronomy(Probably the biggest aspect that seldom get covered).

- And of course the context and events that led up to Hypatia´s death which is often overlooked in in favor of a simplistic just-so story about secular reason vs. Religious fanaticism.


Il cover these topics in more detail as well as refuting some popular myths about Hypatia in a quick overview on the History of Hypatia I made recently. If your interested, feel free to take a look and give some comments on the claims I make and if you think there is something I miss or misrepresents.

Video: The (REAL) life of Hypatia of Alexandria.