Hypatia

Hypatia (about AD 350–415) was a Greek scholar from Alexandria, Egypt, who is considered the first notable woman mathematician; she also taught philosophy and astronomy. As a Neoplatonist philosopher, she belonged to the mathematic tradition of the Academy of Athens, as represented by Eudoxus of Cnidus; she was of the intellectual school of the 3rd century thinker Plotinus, which encouraged logic and mathematical study in place of empirical enquiry. Hypatia lived in Roman Egypt, and was assassinated by a Christian mob who accused her of witchcraft.

We will discuss Hypatia’s intellectual achievements, and place her murder within the context of the destruction of Paganism and the rising of Christianity.

Hypatia is honored as one of the saints of the Thelemic Mass.