Hypatia of Alexandria

Forgotten Women of History

Hypatia of Alexandria

Few figures from the ancient world deserve as much wonder, controversy, and myth-making as Hypatia of Alexandria. Renowned as a philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician in a city often riven by political and religious turbulence, Hypatia has come to symbolise both the intellectual heights of late antiquity and the dangers faced by women who dared to wield knowledge and influence.

Who Was Hypatia?

Hypatia (c. 355–415 CE) was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, himself a respected scholar and the last recorded member of the Museum—the great scholarly institution associated with the Library of Alexandria (interesting fact of the day about the term ‘Museum’). Raised in this environment, Hypatia received an exceptional education in mathematics, astronomy, and Platonic philosophy. By adulthood she had surpassed her father’s reputation, becoming:

• A leading lecturer in Neoplatonism, attracting Christian, pagan, and Jewish students alike;

• An authority in mathematics, editing and refining works such as Diophantus’s Arithmetica and Apollonius’s Conics;

• A public intellectual, known for her counsel to civic leaders, including the Roman prefect Orestes

She was, quite simply, quite a woman!

Murder Most Foul

Hypatia was murdered by a mob

Hypatia’s influence, however, placed her at the crossroads of intensifying religious and political divisions. In 415 CE, during a period of violent conflict between the Alexandrian church and secular authorities, Hypatia was murdered by a mob 🫢associated with the parabalani—an event later used (and sometimes misused) as a symbol in debates over religious intolerance and the fate of classical knowledge. (Some things don’t change…)

Although almost all of her writings are lost, Hypatia’s legacy has endured across centuries. She remains a powerful emblem of intellectual curiosity, scientific inquiry, and the precarious position of women in the public sphere.

Hypatia in Literature: Charles Kingsley’s Hypatia: New Foes with an Old Face

Hypatia: New Foes with an Old Face by Charles Kingsley

One of the earliest and most influential fictional portrayals of Hypatia appears in Charles Kingsley’s 1853 novel Hypatia: New Foes with an Old Face. Written during the Victorian era’s fascination with the early Church and the “fall of the classical world,” the novel blends history, theology, and melodrama in a sweeping narrative that centres on Hypatia’s final years.

Kingsley’s Hypatia is set in early 5th-century Alexandria and dramatizes the clash between pagan philosophy and rising Christian authority, her role as a teacher and philosopher, the political tensions between Prefect Orestes and Bishop Cyril, and her tragic murder

Kingsley embellishes the historical record, weaving in fictional characters—particularly Philammon, a young monk who becomes torn between ascetic ideals and the dazzling world of classical learning embodied by Hypatia.

The novel’s tone is, however, Victorian and moralising, often framing characters as allegorical embodiments of ideas, highly dramatic, with romanticised peril and emotional intensity, anti-clerical, though this varies by character and reflects Kingsley’s own Protestant theological biases, and decadent and richly descriptive, painting Alexandria as both brilliant and corrupt.

It’ss worth noting that Kingsley’s Hypatia is more symbol than woman—idealised, remote, almost too noble for the corrupt world around her. While powerful, the portrayal says as much about Victorian anxieties as it does about the historical philosopher.

Why It Matters (aka Historical Fiction is Great)

Though flawed, Kingsley’s novel helped revive interest in Hypatia during the 19th century and shaped how later generations imagined her. It is a key text in the long history of her reception—showing how each era reinvents Hypatia to reflect its own ideological battles, from Victorian moral critique to modern feminist and secular interpretations.

Afterall, historical fiction goes to the emotional places that pure history (and its gaps) so seldom does.

Why Hypatia Still Resonates

Hypatia’s story endures because it raises perennial questions:

• What happens when knowledge challenges power?

• How do women navigate political and religious tensions?

• What becomes of intellectual traditions in times of upheaval?

For writers, historians, and readers alike, Hypatia offers a window into a world on the cusp of transformation—and a reminder of how easily the voices of extraordinary women can be lost, distorted, or reshaped across time.