Hypatia of Alexandria was the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development

of mathematics.

Hypatia was the daughter of the mathematician and philosopher Theon of Alexandria and it is fairly
certain that she studied mathematics under the guidance and instruction of her father. It is rather
remarkable that Hypatia became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria in about 400 AD. There
she lectured on mathematics and philosophy, in particular teaching the philosophy
of Neoplatonism. Hypatia based her teachings on those of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism,
and Iamblichus who was a developer of Neoplatonism around 300 AD.

Plotinus taught that there is an ultimate reality which is beyond the reach of thought or
language. The object of life was to aim at this ultimate reality which could never be precisely
described. Plotinus stressed that people did not have the mental capacity to fully understand
both the ultimate reality itself or the consequences of its existence. Iamblichus distinguished
further levels of reality in a hierarchy of levels beneath the ultimate reality. There was a level of
reality corresponding to every distinct thought of which the human mind was capable. Hypatia
taught these philosophical ideas with a greater scientific emphasis than earlier followers of
Neoplatonism. She is described by all commentators as a charismatic teacher.

Hypatia came to symbolise learning and science which the early Christians identified with
paganism. However, among the pupils who she taught in Alexandria there were many prominent
Christians. One of the most famous is Synesius of Cyrene who was later to become the Bishop of
Ptolemais. Many of the letters that Synesius wrote to Hypatia have been preserved and we see
someone who was filled with admiration and reverence for Hypatia's learning and scientific
abilities.

In 412 Cyril (later St Cyril) became patriarch of Alexandria. However the Roman prefect of
Alexandria was Orestes and Cyril and Orestes became bitter political rivals as church and state
fought for control. Hypatia was a friend of Orestes and this, together with prejudice against her
philosophical views which were seen by Christians to be pagan, led to Hypatia becoming the focal
point of riots between Christians and non-Christians. Hypatia, Heath writes, [4]:-

... by her eloquence and authority ... attained such influence that Christianity considered itself
threatened ...
A few years later, according to one report, Hypatia was brutally murdered by the Nitrian monks
who were a fanatical sect of Christians who were supporters of Cyril. According to another account
(by Socrates Scholasticus) she was killed by an Alexandrian mob under the leadership of the reader
Peter. What certainly seems indisputable is that she was murdered by Christians who felt threatened
by her scholarship, learning, and depth of scientific knowledge. This event seems to be a turning
point as described in [2]:-

Whatever the precise motivation for the murder, the departure soon afterward of many scholars
marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria as a major centre of ancient learning.
There is no evidence that Hypatia undertook original mathematical research. However she
assisted her father Theon of Alexandria in writing his eleven part commentary
on Ptolemy's Almagest Ⓣ. It is also thought that she also assisted her father in producing a new
version of Euclid's Elements which has become the basis for all later editions
of Euclid. Heath writes of Theon and Hypatia's edition of the Elements [4]:-

.. while making only inconsiderable additions to the content of the "Elements", he endeavoured to
remove difficulties that might be felt by learners in studying the book, as a modern editor might do
in editing a classical text-book for use in schools; and there is no doubt that his edition was
approved by his pupils at Alexandria for whom it was written, as well as by later Greeks who used
it almost exclusively...
In addition to the joint work with her father, we are informed by Suidas that Hypatia wrote
commentaries on Diophantus's Arithmetica, on Apollonius's Conics and on Ptolemy's
astronomical works. The passage in Suidas is far from clear and most historians doubt that
Hypatia wrote any commentaries on Ptolemy other than the works which she composed jointly with
her father.

All Hypatia's work is lost except for its titles and some references to it. However no purely
philosophical work is known, only work in mathematics and astronomy. Based on this small
amount of evidence Deakin, in [8] and [9], argues that Hypatia was an excellent compiler, editor,
and preserver of earlier mathematical works.

As mentioned above, some letters of Synesius to Hypatia exist. These ask her advice on the
construction of an astrolabe and a hydroscope.

Charles Kingsley (best known as the author of The Water Babies) made her the heroine of one of
his novels Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face. As Kramer writes in [1]:-

Such works have perpetuated the legend that she was not only intellectual but also beautiful,
eloquent, and modest.

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

Works[edit]
Hypatia has been described as a universal genius,[119] but she was probably more of a teacher and commentator
than an innovator.[120][121][21][122] No evidence has been found that Hypatia ever published any independent works on
philosophy[123] and she does not appear to have made any groundbreaking mathematical discoveries. [120][121][21]
[122]
During Hypatia's time period, scholars preserved classical mathematical works and commented on them to
develop their arguments, rather than publishing original works.[120][124][125] It has also been suggested that the closure of
the Mouseion and the destruction of the Serapeum may have led Hypatia and her father to focus their efforts on
preserving seminal mathematical books and making them accessible to their students. [123] The Suda mistakenly
states that all of Hypatia's writings have been lost,[126] but modern scholarship has identified several works by her as
extant.[126] This kind of authorial uncertainty is typical of female philosophers from antiquity. [127] Hypatia wrote in Greek,
which was the language spoken by most educated people in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time. [26] In classical
antiquity, astronomy was seen as being essentially mathematical in character. [128]Furthermore, no distinction was
made between mathematics and numerology or astronomy and astrology.[128]

Edition of the Almagest[edit]

Hypatia is known to have edited at least Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest,[129][130][131] which supported the geocentric model of the
universe shown in this diagram.[132][130]

Hypatia is now known to have edited the existing text of Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest.[129][130][131] It was once thought
that Hypatia had merely revised Theon's commentary on the Almagest,[133] based on the title of Theon's commentary
on the third book of Almagest, which reads "Commentary by Theon of Alexandria on Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest,
edition revised by my daughter Hypatia, the philosopher", [133][134] but, based on analysis of the titles of Theon's other
commentaries and similar titles from the time period, scholars have concluded that Hypatia corrected, not her
father's commentary, but the text of Almagest itself.[133][135] Her contribution is thought to be an improved method
for the long division algorithms needed for astronomical computation.[132] The Ptolemaic model of the universe
was geocentric, meaning it taught that the sun revolved around the earth.[132] In the Almagest, Ptolemy proposed a
division problem for calculating the number of degrees swept out by the sun in a single day as it orbits the earth.
[132]
In his early commentary, Theon had tried to improve upon Ptolemy's division calculation. [132] In the text edited by
Hypatia, a tabular method is detailed.[132] This tabular method might be the "astronomical table" which historic
sources attribute to Hypatia.[132] Classicist Alan Cameron additionally states that it is possible Hypatia may have
edited, not only Book III, but all nine extant books of the Almagest.[130]

Independent writings[edit]

Hypatia wrote a commentary on Apollonius of Perga's treatise on conic sections,[34][136][137] but this commentary is no longer extant.
[136][137]

Hypatia wrote a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica, which had been written sometime around
the year 250 AD.[34][138][19][139] It set out more than 100 mathematical problems, for which solutions are proposed
using algebra.[140] For centuries, scholars believed that this commentary had been lost.[126] Only volumes one through
six of the Arithmetica have survived in the original Greek,[141][19][137] but at least four additional volumes have been
preserved in an Arabic translation produced around the year 860. [19][139]The Arabic text contains numerous expansions
not found in the Greek text,[19][139] including verifications of Diophantus's examples and additional problems. [19]
Cameron states that the most likely source of the additional material is Hypatia herself, [19] since Hypatia is the only
ancient writer known to have written a commentary on the Arithmetica[19] and the additions appear to follow the same
methods used by her father Theon.[19] The first person to deduce that the additional material in the Arabic
manuscripts came from Hypatia was the nineteenth-century scholar Paul Tannery.[136][142] In 1885, Sir Thomas
Heath published the first English translation of the surviving portion of the Arithmetica.[141] Heath argued that
surviving text of Arithmetica is actually a school edition produced by Hypatia to aid her students. [141] According to
Mary Ellen Waithe, Hypatia used an unusual algorithm for division (in the then-standard sexagesimal numeral
system), making it easy for scholars to pick out which parts of the text she had written. [136]
The consensus that Hypatia's commentary is the source of the additional material in the Arabic manuscripts of
the Arithmetica has been challenged by Wilbur Knorr, a historian of mathematics,[19] who argues that the
interpolations are "of such low level as not to require any real mathematical insight" and that the author of the
interpolations can only have been "an essentially trivial mind... in direct conflict with ancient testimonies of Hypatia's
high caliber as a philosopher and mathematician."[19] Cameron rejects this argument, noting that "Theon too enjoyed
a high reputation, yet his surviving work has been judged 'completely unoriginal.'" [19] Cameron also insists that
"Hypatia's work on Diophantus was what we today might call a school edition, designed for the use of students
rather than professional mathematicians."[19]
Hypatia also wrote a commentary on Apollonius of Perga's work on conic sections,[34][136][137] but this commentary is no
longer extant.[136][137] She also created an "Astronomical Canon";[34] this is believed to have been either a new edition of
the Handy Tables by the Alexandrian Ptolemy or the aforementioned commentary on his Almagest.[143][144][145] Based on
a close reading in comparison with her supposed contributions to the work of Diophantus, Knorr suggests that
Hypatia may also have edited Archimedes' Measurement of a Circle, an anonymous text on isometric figures, and a
text later used by John of Tynemouth in his work on Archimedes' measurement of the sphere. [146] A high degree of
mathematical accomplishment would have been needed to comment on Apollonius's advanced mathematics or the
astronomical Canon.[120] Because of this, most scholars today recognize that Hypatia must have been among the
leading mathematicians of her day.[120]

Reputed inventions[edit]

Hypatia is known to have constructed plane astrolabes,[147] such as the one shown above, which dates to the eleventh century.

One of Synesius's letters describes Hypatia as having taught him how to construct a silver plane astrolabe as a gift
for an official.[147][52][148][149] An astrolabe is a device used to calculate date and time based on the positions of the stars
and planets.[147][150][151] It can also be used to predict where the stars and planets will be on any given date. [147][150][151] A
"little astrolabe", or "plane astrolabe", is a kind of astrolabe that used stereographic projection of the celestial sphere
to represent the heavens on a plane surface, as opposed to an armillary sphere, which was globe-shaped.[132]
[150]
Armillary spheres were large and normally used for display; [150] whereas a plane astrolabe was portable and could
be used for practical measurements.[150]
The statement from Synesius's letter has sometimes been wrongly interpreted to mean that Hypatia invented the
plane astrolabe herself,[37][152] but the plane astrolabe is known to have been in use at least 500 years before Hypatia
was born.[152][147][52][153] Hypatia may have learned how to construct a plane astrolabe from her father Theon, [132][148][150] who
had written two treatises on astrolabes: one entitled Memoirs on the Little Astrolabe and another study on the
armillary sphere in Ptolemy's Almagest.[150] Theon's treatise is now lost, but it was well-known to the Syrian
bishop Severus Sebokht (575–667), who describes its contents in his own treatise on astrolabes. [150][154] Hypatia and
Theon may have also studied Ptolemy's Planisphaerium, which describes the calculations necessary in order to
construct an astrolabe.[155] Synesius's wording indicates that Hypatia did not design or construct the astrolabe
herself, but merely acted as a guide and mentor during the process of constructing it. [13]
In another letter, Synesius requests Hypatia to construct him a "hydroscope", a device now known as a hydrometer,
to determine the density or specific gravity of liquids.[152][156][148][157] Based on this request, it has been claimed that
Hypatia invented the hydrometer herself.[152][158] The minute detail in which Synesius describes the instrument,
however, indicates that he assumes she has never heard of the device, [159][160] but trusts she will be able to replicate it
based on a verbal description.[159] Although modern authors frequently credit Hypatia with having developed a variety
of other inventions,[159] these other attributions may all be discounted as spurious. [159] Booth concludes, "The modern
day reputation held by Hypatia as a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and mechanical inventor, is
disproportionate to the amount of surviving evidence of her life's work. This reputation is either built on myth or
hearsay as opposed to evidence. Either that or we are missing all of the evidence that would support it." [158]
Hypatia, (born c. 355 CE—died March 415, Alexandria), mathematician, astronomer,
and philosopher who lived in a very turbulent era in Alexandria’s history. She is the earliest
female mathematician of whose life and work reasonably detailed knowledge exists.
Hypatia was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, himself a mathematician and
astronomer and the last attested member of the Alexandrian Museum (see Researcher’s
Note: Hypatia’s birth date). Theon is best remembered for the part he played in the
preservation of Euclid’s Elements, but he also wrote extensively, commenting
on Ptolemy’s Almagest and Handy Tables. Hypatia continued his program, which was
essentially a determined effort to preserve the Greek mathematical and astronomical
heritage in extremely difficult times. She is credited with commentaries on Apollonius of
Perga’s Conics (geometry) and Diophantus of Alexandria’s Arithmetic (number theory), as
well as an astronomical table (possibly a revised version of Book III of her father’s
commentary on the Almagest). These works, the only ones she is listed as having written,
have been lost, although there have been attempts to reconstruct aspects of them. In
producing her commentaries on Apollonius and Diophantus, she was pushing the program
initiated by her father into more recent and more difficult areas. She was, in her time, the
world’s leading mathematician and astronomer, the only woman for whom such claim can
be made. She was also a popular teacher and lecturer on philosophical topics of a less-
specialist nature, attracting many loyal students and large audiences.
Her philosophy was Neoplatonist and was thus seen as “pagan” at a time of bitter religious
conflict between Christians (both orthodox and “heretical”), Jews, and pagans.
Her Neoplatonism was concerned with the approach to the One, an underlying
reality partially accessible via the human power of abstraction from the Platonic
forms, themselves abstractions from the world of everyday reality. Her philosophy
also led her to embrace a life of dedicated virginity. An early manifestation of the
religious divide of the time was the razing of the Serapeum, the temple of the Greco-
Egyptian god Serapis, by Theophilus, Alexandria’s bishop until his death in 412 CE. This
event was perhaps the final end of the great Library of Alexandria, since the Serapeum
may have contained some of the Library’s books. Theophilus, however, was friendly with
Synesius, an ardent admirer and pupil of Hypatia, so she was not herself affected by this
development but was permitted to pursue her intellectual endeavours unimpeded. With
the deaths of Synesius and Theophilus and the accession of Cyril to the bishopric of
Alexandria, however, this climate of tolerance lapsed, and shortly afterward Hypatia
became the victim of a particularly brutal murder at the hands of a gang of
Christian zealots. It remains a matter of vigorous debate how much the guilt of this atrocity
is Cyril’s, but the affair made Hypatia a powerful feminist symbol and a figure of affirmation
for intellectual endeavour in the face of ignorant prejudice. Her intellectual
accomplishments alone were quite sufficient to merit the preservation and respect
of her name, but, sadly, the manner of her death added to it an even greater
emphasis.

Smithsonian

People primarily remember Hypatia of Alexandria, martyr of female intellectuals and tragic
heroine, for two things: her philosophical, mathematical, and astronomical teachings and the
fact that she was brutally murdered for them.

Ancient Greece laid the philosophical foundations for much of Western liberal democracy, but
women by and large did not produce its influential “bricks” — that is, save for Hypatia. Beautiful,
brilliant, and bold, the Greeks adored her; even the men, who should have chided her for entering
their turf, bowed to her extraordinary accomplishments.

That adoration makes Hypatia’s murder — one of the most calculated and vicious murders in
history — all the more perplexing, at least on the surface. Much of her life has been lost to history,
but the era’s political and religious turmoil helps suggest that above all else, her pagan beliefs
ultimately led to her death. And, in a sense, immortalized her.

Hypatia’s Beginnings
Most historians estimate that Hypatia was born somewhere around 350 AD to the mathematician
and philosopher Theon, who encouraged her education from an early age. She did not latch on to
her father’s teaching, and quickly found other means to learn about whatever interested her. Outside
of mathematics, she was particularly taken by astronomy and built astrolabes, tools for examining
and measuring celestial bodies in the night sky.

She also established herself as a member of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy and would drape
herself in the robes of the academic elite (something that only men could do at the time, though this
did not deter Hypatia in the least), head into the center of the city and tell anyone who would listen
her thoughts about Plato. As it turned out, a lot of people were listening, and were captivated by her
interpretations — and by Hypatia herself.

People wrote far more about Hypatia after she had died, and they all describe her as being
prepossessing, strikingly beautiful with an almost regal air about her. One such ancient
encyclopedia described her as “Exceedingly beautiful and fair of form. . . in speech articulate and
logical, in her actions prudent and public-spirited, and the rest of the city gave her suitable welcome
and accorded her special respect.”

So just how did Hypatia enter male-dominated academia and not only survive, but thrive?
Scholars say it may have been the result of one simple thing: celibacy.

Wikimedia Commons
The intellectual devoted herself to chastity. She never married and by all accounts was
assumed to be a virgin up until her death. Ancient Greek society prized celibacy as a virtue,
and as such men and women accepted and respected Hypatia in large part because she
appeared to be almost sexless. This made her far less threatening, despite the intensity of her
mind and her growing list of scholastic achievements.

Abstinence didn’t immunize her from sexual advances, however. As one story goes, a male student
became so enamored with her that she feared for his apparent “lovesickness” and took desperate
measures to save him from himself (and we can assume, to save her from having to endure his
aggressive flirtations).

As the student yet again professed his love for her, legend has it that Hypatia lifted her skirt, yanked
off her sanitary protection, and threw her menstrual-effluent rich rags at her relentless suitor. She
then said something to the effect of: Your love is just lust, and you have no idea about the
reality of women, so here it is. Now you ought to be cured of your obsession with me.

He was cured, and Hypatia could return to her work. Other men still kept a close eye on her,
however, and their intentions were no more gentlemanly. They weren’t out to woo her, though.
Nor did they desire to court her. They wanted to kill her.

A Threat To Christianity
Hypatia practiced paganism at a time when Christianity was in its infancy. Still, the burgeoning
religion began to grow and as such many pagans had converted to Christianity out of fear of
persecution.

Hypatia did not; rather, she continued to practice paganism and made no effort to conceal it. This
defiance — though she did, for a time, receive support from the government of Alexandria — made
her a target among power-lusting Christian circles. Once Christians incited violence in the city,
however, this support disappeared and the government’s attempts to protect her ceased.

An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also

one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy
Hypatia never married and likely led a celibate life, which possibly was in keeping with Plato’s
ideas on the abolition of the family system. The Suda lexicon, a 10th-century encyclopedia of
the Mediterranean world, describes her as being “exceedingly beautiful and fair of form. . . in speech
articulate and logical, in her actions prudent and public-spirited, and the rest of the city gave her
suitable welcome and accorded her special respect.”

Her admirers included Alexandria’s governor, Orestes. Her association with him would eventually
lead to her death.

Theophilus, the archbishop who destroyed the last of Alexandria’s great Library, was succeeded in 412
by his nephew, Cyril, who continued his uncle’s tradition of hostilities toward other faiths. (One of his
first actions was to close and plunder the churches belonging to the Novatian Christian sect.)
With Cyril the head of the main religious body of the city and Orestes in charge of the civil
government, a fight began over who controlled Alexandria. Orestes was a Christian, but he did not
want to cede power to the church. The struggle for power reached its peak following a massacre of
Christians by Jewish extremists, when Cyril led a crowd that expelled all Jews from the city and looted
their homes and temples. Orestes protested to the Roman government in Constantinople. When
Orestes refused Cyril’s attempts at reconciliation, Cyril’s monks tried unsuccessfully to assassinate
him.

Hypatia, however, was an easier target. She was a pagan who publicly spoke about a non-Christian
philosophy, Neoplatonism, and she was less likely to be protected by guards than the now-prepared
Orestes. A rumor spread that she was preventing Orestes and Cyril from settling their differences.
From there, Peter the Lector and his mob took action and Hypatia met her tragic end.

Cyril’s role in Hypatia’s death has never been clear. “Those whose affiliations lead them to venerate
his memory exonerate him; anticlericals and their ilk delight in condemning the man,” Michael
Deakin wrote in his 2007 book Hypatia of Alexandria.

Meanwhile, Hypatia has become a symbol for feminists, a martyr to pagans and atheists
and a character in fiction. Voltaire used her to condemn the church and religion. The English
clergyman Charles Kingsley made her the subject of a mid-Victorian romance. And she is the heroine,
played by Rachel Weisz, in the Spanish movie Agora, which will be released later this year in the
United States. The film tells the fictional story of Hypatia as she struggles to save the library from
Christian zealots.

Neither paganism nor scholarship died in Alexandria with Hypatia, but they certainly took a blow.
“Almost alone, virtually the last academic, she stood for intellectual values, for rigorous mathematics,
ascetic Neoplatonism, the crucial role of the mind, and the voice of temperance and moderation in
civic life,” Deakin wrote. She may have been a victim of religious fanaticism, but Hypatia
remains an inspiration even in modern times.