Hypatia :: Essays Papers

HypatiaHypatia was natural in the year 370 AD in Alexandria, Egypt. She was the daughter of Theon, a celebrated mathematician and astronomer. He invented many things, plainly his closely famous invention is the astrolabe, which measures the stature of a star or planet. Hypatia studied with her father for many days at the Museum in Alexandria, but soon became unsatisfied with his instruction because she was smarter than him. She left field Egypt, and traveled to Greece and Rome to do post-graduate work. Her brains and beauty gave her a wonderful genius throughout the capitols near the Mediterranean. When she returned to her homeland, everyone wanted to be taught by her. She not exclusively gave lectures on philosophy, but also tutored. Hypatia became smashing friends with Orestes, the Roman governor of Alexandria, and would subsequently become one of his closest advisors. She also became pals with Synesius, who became bishop of Ptolmais thanks to Hypatias ingenuity. overmuch of what we know about Hypatia today is from the letters Synesius wrote to her. In one letter, Synesius wrote to his friend, You always have power and long may you have it and make good use of that power. The ancient encyclopedia Suda also tells us a teensy-weensy bit about Hypatia. It tells us that when she was 31, she became director of the museum in Alexandria. This museum was brought the top scientists from totally around Europe to work and do research there. Some of these mathematicians and scientists were Euclid, Galen, and Archimedes. This museum was considered to be one of the finest and most outstanding buildings at the time. It was built by Ptolemy, the dominion of Egypt after Alexander the Great, in 300 B.C.Next to the museum Ptolemy built a library which was considered the greatest library of the ancient world. However, the Julius Caesars army burned-over it down accidentally. Some archaeologists called this the greatest disaster in the ancient w orld.During Hypatias life, there was bitter rivalry between the pagans and Christians of the Mediterranean. Hypatia was a pagan herself, but taught both Christian and non-Christian students. The pagans and Christians were battling over who had more power, and in March of 415 AD, it was the Christians who had the most power. These two groups were trying to drive each other out of Alexandria.