Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Hypatia was born in Egypt in the year 370. Her skills in philosophy were so great that she became the head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy.

Hypatia had great intelligence and charmisma, and her reputation as an incredible teacher grew over the years. In addition to philosophy, Hypatia was also gifted in mathematics and taught on that subject as well.

Unfortunately for Hypatia, much of her learning came in direct conflict with the teachings of the growing power of the Christian church. The local church rulers became incensed with the "non-doctrine" she was teaching and roused the mobs against her. In 391, many famous libraries full of thousands of books were destroyed because of this fanaticism.

Two quotes attributed to Hypatia are:

“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all”

“To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing,”

Because of the destruction of property, pretty much everything that Hypatia wrote or worked on has been lost. What we have left are the many letters and writings of others of her time, praising her works and her skill.

Hypatia herself was murdered by a mob of Christians in 415. The mob, deliberately goaded into action by the clergy, came across Hypatia while she was riding on her chariot. They grabbed her and scraped all of her flesh off of her body until she died from blood loss.