Classical Association of Canada

Hypatia
Author(s): J. M. Rist
Source: Phoenix, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 214-225
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086284
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 HYPATIA

J.M. RIST

PRESUMABLY for English-speakingreaders the trouble began with

Gibbon,1who knew the tragicend of Hypatia, daughterof Theon, and
used his knowledge,as had some of his predecessorsin antiquity, to
vilifyCyril,Patriarchof Alexandria.Gibbon's account should be quoted
at length,so that its full forcemay be grasped and the problemsof
understandingthe circumstancesof the career and teachingsof Hypatia
may be clarified.AfterdescribingCyril'svarious aberranciesas patriarch,
Gibbon continuesas follows:
He soon prompted,or accepted, the sacrificeof a virgin,who professedthe religionof
the Greeks and cultivated the friendshipof Orestes [the prefectof Egypt; see below].
Hypatia, the daughterof Theon the mathematician,was initiatedin her father'sstudies;
her learned comments have elucidated the geometry of Apollonius and Diophantus;
and she publicly taught, both at Athens and Alexandria, the philosophy of Plato and
Aristotle. In the bloom of beauty, and in the maturityof wisdom, the modest maid
refused her lovers and instructed her disciples; the persons most illustrious for their
rank or merit were impatient to visit the female philosopher; and Cyril beheld, with a
jealous eye, the gorgeoustrainof horsesand slaves who crowded the door of her academy.
A rumour was spread among the Christians that the daughter of Theon was the only
obstacle to the reconciliationof the praefectand the archbishop; and that obstacle was
speedily removed. On a fatal day in the holy season of Lent, Hypatia was tornfromher
chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church,and inhumanly butcheredby the hands
of Peter the Reader and a troop of savage and mercilessfanatics: her fleshwas scraped
fromher bones with sharp oyster-shells,and her quivering limbs were delivered to the
flames. The just progressof inquiry and punishmentwas stopped by seasonable gifts;
but the murderof Hypatia has imprintedan indelible stain on the characterand religion
of Cyril of Alexandria.

This is finepolemic,thoughthe details of the assassinationhave been

renderedeven more lurid than they actually were, and it admirably
its author'sintentionofarousingemotionalhostilityto Christianity.
fulfils
When BertrandRussell quoted a part of Gibbon's narrative,he added
that "after this Alexandria was no longer troubled by philosophers,"2
a dramatic and false conclusion. Yet the memoryof Hypatia and of
Alexandrianphilosophyis no better served by this partisan treatment
than are those of the victims of the concentrationcamps by a recent
author who in his novel of Nazi Germany introducedexplicitlyerotic
tones into an account of the meetingof his beautifulJewishheroinewith
Hitler at a gala occasion in the Berlinof the thirties.For the Alexandrian
'Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 47 (The Modern
Library: New York n.d.) 2.816.
sHistoryof WesternPhilosophy (London 1946) 387.
214

PHOENIx, Vol. 19 (1965) 3.

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 HYPATIA 215

philosopherhas not escaped the attentionsof the pervertedclergyman

Charles Kingsley,whose novel Hypatia is full of sadistic eroticismand
whose account of the heroine'sdeath remindsProfessorMarrou of the
writingsof Pierre Louys.3
From imaginationand the emotional backwash of historywe must
turnto facts.Gibbon claimsthat his accountofHypatia derivesprimarily
fromSocrates the ecclesiastical historian (H.E. 7.15). This is not, of
course, the only source forthe events he describes,and indeed much of
his informationis drawn fromthe notice of Hypatia in the Suda. The
informationin the Suda probablycomes fromDamascius' Life ofIsidore,4
and additionalevidencefromthat sourceis preservedby Photius. Further
material is to hand in various lettersof Synesius,5and vague scraps of
informationhave reached the pages of Malalas6 and Philostorgius.7
From all this we can see a little more clearly than has sometimesbeen
supposed the true characterof the work and importanceof Hypatia,
especially if we also take into account the views of her immediatesuc-
cessorsin Alexandriaas they are representedby Hierocles.8
Hypatia was born about 370 A.D.9 and was murderedin 415. Her
fatherTheon was the author of a numberof mathematicalworks and
was associated with the Museum at Alexandria;'xthere is no evidence
that he was a philosopher,and indeedit was formathematicalas much as
for philosophical activity that Hypatia herselfbecame famous, as the
lettersof Synesius and the lists of her writingsshow. Accordingto the

3H. I. Marrou, "Synesius of Cyrene and Alexandrian Neoplatonism," in The Conflict

between Paganism and Christianityin the Fourth Century (Oxford 1963) 127. For
Kingsley's general manner of proceedingin mattersof virginityand crueltysee Meriol
Trevor, Newman: Light in Winter(New York 1963) 326-327. For detailed treatmentof
the "after-life"of Hypatia in European traditionssee R. Asmus, "Hypatia in Tradition
und Dichtung," Studien zur vergleichenden 7 (1907) 11-44.
Literaturgeschichte
4Cf. Damascius' Vita Isidori (to be found with Diogenes Laertius, ed. Cobet) and
P. Tannery, "L'article de Suidas sur Hypatie," Ann. de la Fac. des Lettresde Bordeaux 2
(1880) 199 ff.
6Letters 10, 15, 16, 33, 81, 124, and 154 are to Hypatia herself.She is referredto in
133, 136, 137, and 159.
6Chronogr.14 (PG 97, 536A).
7PhilostorgiusH.E. 8.9. (GCS 21, p. 111 Bidez).
"The chief previous attempts to determine the importance of Hypatia are those of
R. Hoche, "Hypatia die Tochter Theons," Philologus 15 (1860) 435-474, K. Praechter,
art. "Hypatia," RE 91 cols. 242-249, E. Zeller, Die Philosophie der Griechen31 (5th
edition Leipzig 1923) 801-803, and C. Lacombrade, Synisios de Cyrine (Paris 1951)
38-46.
9Cf. Suda (ed. Adler) 4.644; Socrates H.E. 8.9; Lacombrade (see note 8) 39. Lacom-
brade notices that the remark of Malalas (see note 6) that at the time of her death
Hypatia was a raXala yvvy'need not conflictwith these dates, as was supposed, for
example, by Hoche (see note 8) 439.
'0Suda, s.v. "Theon."

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216 PHOENIX

Suda she commentedon the mathematical writingsof Diophantus, a

third-century Alexandrian,and wrote on the "astronomical canon"-
probably, as Tannery and Lacombrade propose," a commentaryon
Ptolemy-and on Apollonius' Conic Sections.Yet although she followed
her father'sfootstepsin mathematics,and although Damascius, com-
paringher unfavourablywith his idol Isidore, can say that he surpassed
her not only as a man surpasses a woman but as a real philosopher
surpasses a geometrician(Vit. Isid. 164), it is as a philosopherthat her
fame has principallyreached posterity.
Mathematicsmightin turbulenttimesbe a dangerousscience,and the
Suda suggests that it was not only to her philosophicalwisdom that
Hypatia owed her death, but in particularto her ability in the fieldof
astronomy,a science which mightlook like astrologyto the credulous
and sometimes to the practitionersthemselves.Astronomy,however,
even if it had degeneratedinto astrology,was still a "Platonic" science,
though only a propaedeuticone. But what about the keystoneof the
Platonic education, dialectic itself? What do we know of Hypatia's
activitieshere? At firstsight the prospectdoes not look encouraging.
According to the Suda Hypatia gave public lectures on Aristotle,
Plato, and otherphilosophers;12 accordingto Socrates she took over the
Platonic way ofthinkingfromPlotinus;and Lacombradeis quite prepared
to admit that in some respectsHypatia was reasonablyrepresentedby
Synesiusas a successorof Plotinus.'3But thereis littleevidence forthis
latter idea, while the expositionof Plato and Aristotlewas the general
preoccupationof the philosophersof the day. It is interestingin this
connectionto considerthe nature of the thoughtof Synesius. Certainly
he knows Plotinus, but his debts to Plotinian philosophyare not exten-
sive. Taking his lettersas a roughand ready guide, Fitzgerald'"claimed
126 quotations fromPlato, 36 fromPlutarch,20 fromAristotle,but only
9 fromPlotinus and 3 fromPorphyry.This gives an idea of Synesius'
interests:Plotinus,thoughknown,is farfromholdinga positionofhonour.
It should be added that his doctrinesare no more in evidence than are
quotations fromhis text. It is curious,if Hypatia was a Plotinian,that
Synesius, her close friendand contemporaryas well as her pupil, is so
little interestedin Plotinian Neoplatonism. It hardly looks as though
Hypatia spent much time studyingit with him.

"P. Tannery (see note 4) 199; Lacombrade (see note 8) 41-42.

12Theidea of certain moderns that these lectures were given both at Alexandria and
at Athens is due to a misinterpretationof a passage of the Suda (4.645.2). What the
Suda says is that, while Hypatia was teaching, politicians were among the followersof
philosophy,as they had once been in Athens. Hypatia herselfdid not teach in Athens.
I'Lacombrade (see note 8) 46.
"The Lettersof Synesius trans. A. Fitzgerald (Oxford 1926) 16.

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 HYPATIA 217

Nor is Hypatia interestedin the Platonism of Athens,whereperhaps

the influenceof Plotinus was somewhat strongerthan at Alexandria.'5
Letter 136 of Synesiusis importanthere. It was writtenby Synesius at
Athens to his brother.The writeris fullof complaintsthat the good old
days have passed. Athens,he says, is a city of great names, but nothing
more.While in Egypt thereflourishesthe fruitful wisdomof Hypatia, in
Athens there is nothing more than bee-keepersto interestthe visitor.
There are a couple of wise Plutarchians-he seems to mean Plutarch and
Syrianus-whose eloquence is so inadequate that they have to bribe
studentswithpots of honeyfromHymettusif theywant an audience! It
seems certain fromthis that, whatever the teachingsof the Athenian
school, Synesius was not disposed to learn fromthem. Might one say
that he had already come to feel some distaste for philosophy which
differedfromthat traditionallytaught at Alexandria?
But what was traditionallytaught at Alexandria? What did people
think of Plotinus there in the fiftyyears beforeA.D. 400? Henry has
remindedus that Plotinus' whole vast workwas virtuallyignoredin the
East in the fourthcentury:'""Si l'on excepte quelques citations tacites
des 'A0opcalde Porphyre,ouvrage dont on ignorela date de composition,
mais qui est vraisemblablementanterieura la publicationdes Enneades
(probablyin A.D.301], si l'on excepteles extraitsd'Eusebe qui proviennent
de l'6dition d'Eustochius [this may or may not have existed], si l'on
excepte enfinquelques tresvagues allusions de Jambliqueet les adapta-
tions tres libres de saint Basile, on ne rencontreen Orient,dans tout le
cours du quatriemesiecle, aucune trace des oeuvresde Plotin." Synesius'
own writingsindicate that he was at least slightlyinformedof the work
of Plotinus,and duringthe fifthcenturythe greatAlexandriancame into
his own all over theGreekEast. Yet Alexandriaitselfhad been in no hurry
to recognizehis importance.
We know comparativelylittle of philosophyin Alexandriaduringthe
fourthcentury.We do not know who carriedthe Platonic torchbetween
the pupils of AmmoniusSaccas, such as Origen,and the contemporaries
of Theon, fatherof Hypatia. What we do know indicates that Plotinus
was not thedominatinginfluence.But ifHypatia did not learnof Plotinus
fromher teachers,perhaps it was she who revived interestin him at
Alexandria.The attitudeof Synesiusdoes not indicate that Plotinus was
a favouriteof his teacher,but Synesiuswas a Christianand perhaps the
Plotinian stream could more easily be transmittedto non-Christian
Neoplatonists.
Our nexttask, therefore, is to deteiminewhat happened to philosophy
15ForPlutarch's position in the Athenian school see below.
16P. Henry, Plotin et l'Occident(Louvain 1934) 15. Henry is a little too sweeping. He
has not, forexample, mentioned Gregoryof Nyssa.

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218 PHOENIX

at AlexandriaafterHypatia's death in 415. Synesiushimselfdied before

his teacher, and the fellow-pupilswhom he mentionsin his lettersare
mostlylittleknownfigures.Yet we do know the name of the next major
Platonist in Alexandria;it was Hierocles.And an enquiryinto the nature
ofHierocles'thinkingmay shed lighton thekindofphilosophicaltradition
leftbehindin AlexandriaafterHypatia's death.
About Hierocles we are fairlywell informed,not only throughthe
accounts of his work on Providence preserved by Photius (Biblioth.
214, 251), but also throughhis commentaryon the Carmen Aureum.17
He is, as scholars of Alexandrian thoughtagree, a very old-fashioned
Platonist, whose work once again bears little mark of the influenceof
Plotinus, or of the Athenian school, but which harks back at least to
Origen and beyond him to the Middle Platonists of the second century
of our era. Like Hypatia Hierocles had both Christianand pagan pupils;
and Praechterhas suggested'"that his thoughtlikewisebears marks of
Christianinfluence,though this is much more doubtful.It is true that
there are many parallels between Christianthoughtand the Platonism
of Hierocles, but these could easily exist withoutthe necessityof postu-
lating the influenceof Christianityon the pagan master. After all
Hierocles himselfadmits (Biblioth.214) that Origen the pagan is one of
his mentors,and Origen composed a treatise,possibly in opposition to
Plotinus, which might well have pleased Christianears: it was called
The King, The Sole Creator.'9The King, of course,is the firstGod of the
Middle Platonic systems.
We learn fromPhotius somethingof Hierocles' philosophicaltraining.
Hierocles apparentlyregardedhimselfas in the main streamof Platonic
thinkingwhich stemmedfromAmmoniusSaccas (Biblioth.241, 285H).
He claims as links between himselfand Ammonius,Plotinus, Origen,
Porphyry,lamblichus, and his successorsdown to Plutarch of Athens.
We should not attach much weightto this as far as doctrinesare con-
cerned. There may well be some similaritybetween the positions of
Hierocles and those of Origen,but Plotinus is not a major influenceon
Hierocles,as we have seen, and the traces of lamblichus seem negligible.
The matterof Plutarch of Athens is important,however,forhe is com-
monly regarded as the founderof the Athenian school which attained
its greatest developmentunder Syrianus and Proclus. On the basis of
this section of Photius, in which Hierocles calls Plutarch Ka06tyTriv
acro0 ' TOv .... Zeller20 named Hierocles as one of
,ooVT0 Boy0t&ro'TW,
"Printed by Mullach in Fragm. philos. Graec. 1. 416-486.
18K. Praechter, "Christlich-neuplatonischeBeziehungen," BZ 21 (1912) 1-27.
1"Porph. Vita Plotini 3.
20Zeller(see note 8) 812. This view is also held by A. H. Armstrong,"Platonic Eros
and Christian Agape," Downside Review79 (1961) 120.

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 HYPATIA 219

Plutarch's pupils, thus in effectlinking him with the introductionof

Plotinian or lamblichan Neoplatonism into Alexandria.
If Zeller was rightto believe that Hierocles was a pupil of Plutarch,
we should have to conclude that he learned practicallynothingfromhis
master; for although it may be true21that Plutarch was hostile to the
excesses of religiositythat were acceptable to lamblichus, and later to
Syrianus and the Athenianschool, therecan still be littledoubt that he
is far fromthat freedomfromcredulityand superstitionwhich charac-
terizesPlotinus. FortunatelyZeller need not be right.We do not have to
assume that because Hierocles refersto Plutarch as his Ka0,qyyr?7s he
necessarily studied under him at Athens.22It need only mean that
Hierocles accepted Plutarchas one of his eminentpredecessors.Hierocles
then is a very traditionalPlatonist. Origen the pupil of Ammonius is
perhaps his major authority,as Weber believes,23though somethingof
Porphyrymay also be detected. As Damascius tells us, his teachings
included an expositionof Plato's Gorgias,24 and it seems likely that he
regarded himselfas primarilya commentator on Plato or "Pythagoras"
and a correctorof those whose noveltiesoffendedagainst the master's
text.
Our enquiryinto the teachingsof Hierocles was undertakenin orderto
determinethe nature of AlexandrianphilosophyafterHypatia's death.
We can now see that our view that Hypatia was not an exponentof the
philosophyof eitherPlotinusor lamblichus is given furtherconfirmation:
these philosophiesdo not appear to have been establishedin Alexandria
until long afterher death. In fact Alexandriaseems only to have aban-
doned its "old-fashioned"Platonism when the effectsof the pupils of
Proclus made themselves felt in the latter part of the fifthcentury.
Hypatia, then,as faras we can determine,taughta Platonism like that
of Hierocles,thoughwith more emphasison mathematics-an emphasis
which was appropriatein her scientificcity and serves to link her still
more closely to the Middle Platonic, un-Plotinian tradition to which
Origen, the pupil of Ammonius,and Hierocles also largelybelonged.
Do such conclusionsprovidethe only knowledgewe have of Hypatia's
philosophicalideas? Her writingshave not survivedand the onlyexample
of her conversationto have been preservedby Synesiusis the description
of himselfas an aXX6rptov'ya06v (Ep. 81). Yet, as Lacombrade indicates,
21For this view of Plutarch see E. Evrard, "Le Maitre de Plutarque d'Athhnes,"
L' Antiquit6 Classique 29 (1960) 396.
22Forthis view, with referenceto the treatise on Providence, see K. Praechter, art.
"Hierocles (18)," RE 8, cols. 1481-1482 and R. Beutler, art. "Plutarch (3)," RE
21,1
col. 963.
23K-O. Weber, Origenesder Neuplatoniker: Versucheiner Interpretation(Zetemata 27,
Munich 1962).
24Cf. Vita Isidori 54.

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220 PHOENIX

the account in the Suda gives the patient enquirera little more help.26
Hypatia not only lecturedto initiatesand close disciples like Synesius;
she had some kind of public position.She was, as the Suda and Socrates
agree, a well-knownpublic figure.In fact there is little doubt that she
gave public lectures in virtue of some kind of officialappointment:
bta U
pAiaov ras7 rpo66ovsErl?7'y7robrpouatL roLos Kpoacaer
o70v aT7EW roLovUvL?7

fovXo/ivoLsis how the Suda expresses it. This seems to indicate, as

Lacombrade supposes,that she held an officialteachingpost in the city.
But the fact that she was a woman must never be forgotten.Female
philosopherswere a comparativerarityin antiquity and were regarded
as a marvellousphenomenon.The robe of Athena did not preventmany
of the auditorsof such blue-stockingsfromthinkingin termsof the Birth
of Venus. Generallyspeaking, famous intellectualwomen of antiquity
are freeand easy in mattersof sexual morality,forthe mereact of being
a philosopher would involve abandoning the traditional pursuits of
women and enteringinto debate with men. Men fortheirpart protected
themselvesby treatingsuch intrusionsas acts of immodesty;the female
philosopherstended to retaliate by shocking their frivolousmale de-
tractors or distractorsinto respectfulsilence. As told by Diogenes
Laertius, the story of the aristocraticHipparchia, wife of the Cynic
Crates, is instructive.An unusual feature of her life, according to
Diogenes, was that she went to banquets withher husband. On one such
occasion, whenshe had silenceda fellow-guest named Theodoruswithan
ingeniouspiece of sophistry,she foundthat his reactionwas so farfrom
philosophical that he tried to remove her lLaTov (D.L. 6.97). Such
happeningshelp us to understandthe case of Hypatia. Socrates (H.E.
7.15) speaks of her as follows:"She was not ashamed to be presentin
the companyof men: forall respectedand stood in awe of her the more
because of her surpassingacowpoaovr7."The treatmentof this matter in
the Suda is more elaborate and more revealing: "She also took up the
other branchesof philosophy[other than mathematics],and though a
woman she cast a r7pLwv around herselfand appeared in the centreof
the city." Such manners in the Greek world must remind us of the
Cynics, as Lacombrade has pointed out,26though he has not observed
that Hypatia even wears the rpifpov,the roughcloak whichwas virtually
the uniformof the Cynic preachersand theirmonasticsuccessors.And
Hypatia, as female philosopher,is in some ways more strikingthan
Hipparchia, for even though Hipparchia apparently "lived with" her
husband in public (iv 7cW avep4 avveylvero),
she at least had a husband.
Hypatia's public appearances were not under the protectionof a man,
for
thoughfortunately Kingsley and the otherwriters of romance she is
26Lacombrade(see note 8) 44-45.
"Lacombrade (see note 8) 44-45.

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 HYPATIA 221

attestedby the Suda to have remainednot only a4ppwv and virgin,27 but
also very beautifuland possessed of finefeatures.
Hipparchia had to seek out her partnerCrates; Hypatia had no desire
of partnersbut had to employ Cynic means to keep them off.A certain
youth became enamoured of her and revealed his passion to her. The
Suda gives two versionsofwhat happened,one clearlydesignedto remove
the Cynic element in what seems certainlyto have been the true and
originalstory.Accordingto daratEvroTL Xo'yo Hypatia recalled the youth
to higherthingsby remindinghimof the natureof culture.But the truth
is, says the Suda, that culturalinterestshad long faded fromhis mind,
and that she only broughthim to his senses by throwingthe ancient
versionof a used "femininenapkin" at him with the remarkrobrov
CP-p,
eaVrKE,KaXot)
Wvrc 6oVbOiV.This displayofr6arb3PoXov rs
7saKaOprov yEvivcows
so shamed and amazed the youth, as the storygoes, that his soul was
turnedto righteousnessand he lived awcpoviaTEpovever after.
Here then is furtherinformationabout Hypatia; her Platonism is at
least in part the Platonismof the Cynic preacher.This is anotherfeature
which links her with the popular semi-Platonicteachersof the second
century A.D.; and Socrates speaks of her c(E/vL7 7rappr]La.The unkind
mightalmost hear the Cynic dog barking.
We mustnow turnfromherdoctrinesand public attitudesto herpublic
position and thereforeinevitablyto the causes of her death. Here there
are a number of matters which deserve consideration.First of all it
seems mostunlikelythat she was murderedbecauseshe was a philosopher.
Despite occasional disturbancesthere was never the great hostilityin
Alexandria between the pagan teachers and the Christians that later
arose in Athens. Hypatia certainly had Christian pupils, as did her
successorHierocles,and such pupils, includingpersonsof some eminence
like Synesius,would not have attended her school against the expressed
wishesof the leaders of the Christiancommunity.It is true that violence
could and did occur in the philosophicalschools in theologicaldisputes.
Zacharias recordsthat in about 486 certainpagan studentsmurdereda
fellow-studentnamed Paralios who, having delivered himselfof public
abuse of the goddess Isis, announced his
intent;on of becoming a
Christian.28 But this is an exceptionalcircumstance,an occasion of what
was virtually provocation to violence. A public denunciation of Isis
among her worshipperscould be construedas the expressionof an over-
pious desire for martyrdom.But this kind of situation clearly did not
27TheSuda contradictsitselfon this point. In one place the heroine
LerTXketrapObvos
(4.644.20); in another she is the wife of the philosopher Isidore (4.644.2). Fortunately
we can be sure, as has been generallynoticed, that the referenceto Isidore is an absurd
interpolation.Isidore's floruitis at least sixty years after Hypatia's death.
8sZachariasVita Severi (Patrologia Orientalis2) p. 38 Kugener.

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222 PHOENIX

arise in the case of Hypatia. It is highlyunlikelythat she had anything

public to say about Christianity.It may be added furtherthatifHypatia's
philosophicalteachingshad a Cynic, popularly Platonic, ratherthan a
Plotinianor lamblichan ring,theywould certainlynot have immediately
aroused public hostility.The Cynics,if any philosophers,were tolerated
by the Christiansof later antiquity.
What Philostorgiushas to say about Hypatia's death can be discounted.
His bald statementthat she was lynchedby the orthodoxparty(br6 ricv
7rb6boobvtoV can be regardedas the malevolenceof an Arian
rprEf(vEU6rPV)
who hated Alexandria,home of the great enemyAthanasius.And in this
matterthe Suda seems as unreliableas Philostorgius.Accordingto that
source on one occasion the patriarchCyril passed Hypatia's house, and,
noticingthe great crowd of men and horsescoming and going,grew so
envious that he plotted her assassination, which was, as the author
writes,doubtlesschoosinghis wordscarefully,the mostunholyassassina-
tion of them all. The implicationwould be that Cyril was the most
unholy bishop of them all.
That Cyril was a violent and hot-headed man, his dealings with
Nestorius and the general tenor of his administrationof his see make
clear. But there is nothingin his career which would suggest that he
would plot a murderthroughmereenvy of someoneelse's popularity,as
the Suda suggests.No evidenceis offeredby the Suda that Cyrilhad any
hand in the crime.All that the Suda knows is that the actual criminals
were by whichhe certainlymeans monks.Monks were
avOpe7roL,
OlPoLpA)s
men who renouncedcitylife;and such a renunciationmade themforthe
average Greek "eitherbeasts or gods," as Aristotleputs it in the Politics
(1253A 29). For the authorsof the murderof Hypatia "beasts" is clearly
the more likelyalternative.
The failureor unsatisfactory natureof our othersourcescompelsus to
relymainlyon Socrates foran accountof what actually happened in 415.
Socrates' narrative has the immediate advantage that the murderof
Hypatia is placed in context. Chapters thirteenand fourteenof the
EcclesiasticalHistoryshow how there had been considerableriotingin
Alexandria,a not infrequentphenomenon,how much of this had taken
the formof conflictbetweenJews and Christians,and how the prefect
Orestes and the bishop Cyril had found themselveson opposite sides.
Various monkshad come down to Alexandria fromtheirmonasteriesin
Nitria and on one occasion had attacked and insultedthe prefectas he
was drivingthroughthe city. Their charges against him were that he
sacrificedto the ancient gods and that he was a "Hellene," meaning a
supporterof the Greek way of life.
We should rememberthat religioustensionat Alexandriawas stillhigh
at this time. The Christianswere by now the dominantparty,but they

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 HYPATIA 223

werestillnervousofthedemonicaid grantedto theiradversaries. A few

historicalfactsshould be recalled:it was in 391 that the Emperor
Theodosiushad forbidden all pagan cultsand indeedpassed a specific
law againstsuchcultsin Egypt.The destruction of thegreattempleof
Serapis at Alexandria followed amid considerable civic disorder."9
The
years 392-394 saw the last struggleof the pagan cause in theWest under
theleadership ofEugeniusand Flavianusand theinevitabledefeatofthe
paganparty.Yet theseeventsoftwenty yearsbackdoubtlessstillworried
the menof 415. They could recallthat,thirtyyearsbeforeEugenius,
JuliantheApostatesat on theImperialthrone.
Withthisin our mindswe can see thatthe chargeagainstOrestesof
sacrificingto theancientgodswas a seriousone. He was luckyto escape
withhislife,butescapehe did,and hisrescuersarresteda monknamed
Ammonius whohad strucktheprefect witha stone.Ammonius was put
to deathwithtorture, to the intenseindignation of Cyrilwhonotonly
reportedthe wholeaffairto the Emperorbut hailedAmmoniusas a
martyr forhisfaith.According to SocrateseventhemoderateChristians
thoughtthisactionofCyril'sintolerable and he foundit expedientto let
the matterdrop. But hostilitybetweenthe bishop and the prefect
remainedintense.
Suchis thecontextof themurderofHypatiaas Socratesdescribesit.
Feelingswererunninghigh;fanaticalmonkswereroamingAlexandria
preparedto murderif necessary.Hypatiawas, accordingto Socrates,a
closeassociateofOrestesand therumour spreadthatit was herinfluence
whichprevented thebishopand theprefectfrombeingreconciled. This
opiniongrewup "amongthechurchpeople"(7rap 7r7rojsiTeas EKKhr Xa);
thereis no suggestion thatCyrilhimself heldit. It is farmorelikely,as
the passage itselfsuggests,that the fanaticalrabble,maddenedby
fastings-itwas duringLent that the murderoccurred-conceived the
notionthatHypatiawas trying to play theroleof MaximusofEphesus
to Orestes'Julian.It is,ofcourse,highlyunlikelythatthiswas thecase,
for,althoughwe knowfromothersources,forexample,Synesius,that
Hypatia had considerable influence,thereis no evidencewhateverto
showthat she exploitedherpowerto forward the politicalpositionof
Neoplatonism. Let us listento Synesiusspeakingof Hypatia'sposition:
"You alwayshavepowerand longmayyouhave it and make good use
of thatpower.I recommend to yourcare Nicaeus and Philolaus,two
excellentyoungmenunitedby the bondof relationship. In orderthat
theymay comeagain intopossessionof theirown property, tryto get

"2For the suppression of paganism see now H. Bloch, "The Pagan Revival in the
West at the end of the Fourth Century," The ConflictbetweenPaganism and
Christianity
in the FourthCentury(Oxford 1963) 198.

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224 PHOENIX

support for them fromall your friends,whetherprivate individuals or

magistrates."
It is likelyenoughboth fromthisstoryand fromwhat we knowof the
adherentsof Platonismgenerallyat this timethat many of the followers
of Hypatia would be menof influence.Philosophywas veryfrequentlyan
aristocraticpursuit;manyeven of the eminentCynicswereof aristocratic
origin. It was from these friendsthat Hypatia's danger came; they
formeda group unsympatheticto Christianityand potentiallyhostileto
it. Among such dangerousfriendswe should not perhaps include a large
percentage of Hypatia's most serious-mindedphilosophical students,
althoughsome men of rank, like Synesius himself,were seriousenough.
But philosophyin ancienttimesalways attractedthe able aristocrat,the
Alcibiades or the Critias, men who were impressedby the personalities
of the teachers, though not sufficiently to warrant their adopting a
philosophicallife themselves.The circle of Socrates is illuminating:we
see threetypes of individual: Alcibiades, Chaerophon,Plato. Alcibiades
is the aristocraticdilettante, Chaerophon the serious bourgeois pro-
fessional,Plato the aristocraticprofessional.If Synesius correspondsto
Plato, then the Christiansmight fear that Orestes and his circle cor-
respondedto Alcibiades.
According to the Suda Hypatia was TE
rKal
#popovd wroXLTLKrV.It seems
that it was to this public activityand to her public positionratherthan
to her purelyphilosophicalor even astronomicalintereststhat she owed
her death. There appears no reason to implicate Cyril in the murder
itself;Cyril's crimewas moreprobablyto tryand hush the matterup-
briberyis mentionedin the Suda-in the vain hope of turningthe spot-
lightof publicityaway fromsuch a disreputableevent in the historyof
the Alexandrianchurch.His effortsto secure this only led to the belief,
so welcometo such writersas Philostorgiusand so gleefullyaccepted by
latter-dayhatersof ecclesiasticalpower,that he himselfwas theorganizer
of the assassination.
Hypatia's famethenis in manyways unrelatedto herhistoricalposition
in the sequence of Alexandrianthinkers.Withinthe contextof Platonism
she appears as merelyanotherto pass on thetorch.Untouchedor virtually
untouchedby the influenceof Plotinus she accepted, taught,and handed
on a conservativePlatonism to a mixed pagan and Christianaudience.
The fact that she was a woman increasedher famein an age wherethe
educated woman was comparativelyrare; her dreadfulend securedher a
posthumous glory which her philosophical achievementswould never
have warranted.Her reputation in her lifetimewas great; her death
ensuredthat althoughwe hear littleof her in the philosophicalwritings
of her successorsshe could win the admirationof that less professional

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 HYPATIA 225

audience which to this day has reacted so favourablytowards her. A

short poem in the Greek Anthology,claimed by some to apostrophize
Hypatia, sums up her legendary significanceif not her philosophical
importance:30
6TravS#XirwaE, 7rpOaKvVW,Kal TObSX67yOUS
rvYOUKOV
r7js7rapOEvov 3XTirwWv.
&oarp^ov
eS obpavbv-y&p r v^
a roa&
7rp"yjpara,
'Traria aeqw, rcwv
XobywV dvpopOia,
aXpavrov &carpovr?7i ao ns7ratceba6cws.

3oGreekAnthology9.400. For scepticism about the author and subject of this poem
compare G. Luck, "Palladas: Christianor Pagan?." HSCP 63 (1958) 462-467.

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