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A philosopher, mathematician, and martyr, Hypatia is one of antiquity's best-known female intellectuals. For the sixteen centuries following her murder by a mob of Christians Hypatia has been remembered in books, poems, plays, paintings, and films as a victim of religious intolerance whose death symbolized the end of the Classical world. But Hypatia was a person before she was a symbol. Her great skill in mathematics and philosophy redefined the intellectual life of her home city of Alexandria. Her talent as a teacher enabled her to assemble a circle of dedicated male students. Her devotion to public service made her a force for peace and good government in a city that struggled to maintain trust and cooperation between pagans and Christians. Despite these successes, Hypatia fought countless small battles to live the public and intellectual life that she wanted. This book rediscovers the life Hypatia led, the unique challenges she faced as a woman who succeeded spectacularly in a man's world, and the tragic story of the events that led to her murder.
List of contents
- Table of Contents
- List of figures
- Introduction: A Lenten Murder
- Chapter 1: Alexandria
- Chapter 2: Childhood and Education
- Chapter 3: The School of Hypatia
- Chapter 4: Middle Age
- Chapter 5: A Philosophical Mother and her Children
- Chapter 6: The Public Intellectual
- Chapter 7: Hypatia's Sisters
- Chapter 8: Murder in the Street
- Chapter 9: The Memory of Hypatia
- Chapter 10: A Modern Symbol
- Reconsidering A Legend
- Bibliography
About the author
The Alkiviadis Vassiliadis Chair and Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego, Edward Watts studies the intellectual and religious history of the later Roman and early Byzantine Empires. He is the author of three prize-winning books and the editor of three edited volumes. This is his first of two upcoming works for OUP.
Summary
A philosopher, mathematician, and martyr, Hypatia is one of antiquity's best-known female intellectuals. For the sixteen centuries following her murder by a mob of Christians Hypatia has been remembered in books, poems, plays, paintings, and films as a victim of religious intolerance whose death symbolized the end of the Classical world. But Hypatia was a person before she was a symbol. Her great skill in mathematics and philosophy redefined the intellectual life of her home city of Alexandria. Her talent as a teacher enabled her to assemble a circle of dedicated male students. Her devotion to public service made her a force for peace and good government in a city that struggled to maintain trust and cooperation between pagans and Christians. Despite these successes, Hypatia fought countless small battles to live the public and intellectual life that she wanted. This book rediscovers the life Hypatia led, the unique challenges she faced as a woman who succeeded spectacularly in a man's world, and the tragic story of the events that led to her murder.
Additional text
Watts' account of Hypatia's life is a work of scholarship, the product of some very thorough research, which provides a detailed and plausible interpretation of the life of a fascinating woman ... I would recommended this book for a university rather than school library, though it might have an appeal for a school pupil with an interest in studying prominent female figures in antiquity ... It is also a book for the thoughtful reader who wishes to examine their own beliefs about how to live the good life and its compatibility with public life.
Report
The book is written in a readable style, without sacrificing rigor or intellectual transparency. The research is thorough. References and details are put in end notes ordered by chapter, easily accessible to the interested reader without disturbing the text ow. I can recommend this book to university students as well as to the general reader interested in late Roman philosophy or in the life of one of the few known female philosophers from before modern times. Christian Bennet, Mathematical Reviews
