Hypatia of Alexandria

She alone survives, immutable, eternal; Death can scatter the trembling universes. But beauty still dazzles with her fire, and all is reborn in her, And the worlds are still prostrate beneath her white feet!"

----Leconte de Lisle

Now here stood a woman to for all men to tremble! She stood in the light of Reason, Ethics, Morality, and Knowledge, unsurpassed by any woman yet. She stood as the last rock of the Age of Reason, until she was decimated. After her there was none. After her came an evil age, that distraught humanity with sever plagues, disease, mass delusion, evil, ignorance, and many more. As the last light in the Platonic Age, she taught so many, built upon immortal ideas, and gave us a beauty only to imagine, and then her body was torn pieces with broken pottery and sea shells, and finally burned at the stake and all in the name if a pious God.

Her name was Hypatia of Alexandria, Egypt, daughter of Theon. Theon had gave the world this magical woman, who with her beauty and knowledge helped to shed light on our selfishness and ignorance. Hypatia was educated in many things, from philosophy and art, to mathematics and astronomy. She was the queen of the library of Alexandria. As the last guardian of the vanquished library, she built an institute which created many followers. People from all over the Mediterranean came to be taught by Hypatia. She taught us Reason and Logic. She taught the world that the only Gods she was interested in were the Gods that perfected the orbits of the planets, and stability of the stars. In reply to Bishop Cyril's comment to her that "Your Gods are reduced to dust, at the feet of the victorious Christ." In reply she said
:
Hypatia

You're mistaken, Cyril. They live in my heart.
Not as you see them-clad in transient forms,
Subject to human passions even in heaven,
Worshipped by the rabble and the worthy of scorn--
But as sublime minds have seen them
In the starry expanse that has no dwellings:
Forces of the Universe, interior virtues,
Harmonious union of earth and heaven
That delights the mind and the ear and the eye,
That offers an attainable ideal to all wise men
And visible splendor to the beauty of the soul.
Such are my Gods! (Dzielska 6)

She excelled at anything she put her mind to, and laziness was a disease upon who she was the cure for. Wisdom was not enough for her, in order to unite man with the divine, it required both cognitive effort and ethical perfection. The goal of philosophizing is to reach the state of revelation, contemplation, theoria. (Dzielska, 49) This is the ultimate experience for it reaches the supreme state of being "to be given over to the things above and entirely to the contemplation of Reality and the origin of mortal things. (Ep. 140) "Contemplation is the end of the priesthood."(Ep. 41)

Among other things she taught mathematics and astronomy. The subject of "divine geometry" was taught to make man reach a higher epistemological sphere, and to open their eyes to reality. Of all the sciences though, Astronomy was her favorite. This was the highest subject to reach metaphysical knowledge. Her view "astronomy is itself a divine form of knowledge." She helped to build astrolabs to measure heavenly bodies. She knew that astronomy would open her students eyes to something more than the mystical universe. (Dzielska 54) This (astronomy) was a fixed measure of Truth. Most of her work was lost, yet her major interests in astronomy and mathematics still survive. She kept these pieces of knowledge close to her heart.


Hypatia was the last guardian and keeper of the Library of Alexandria until she was dragged and murdered by the controlling bishop of Alexandria Cyril. She ran her institute at the library and taught many subjects and gave many public lectures. As the last source of true knowledge and reason she was claimed to be a heretic. Her teachings were contrary to the ever growing sea Christianity. Fundamentalism in Christianity was adherent to most of the schools and bishops that spread the word. Someone like Hyptatia stood as a roadblock in their path. She was the last source on exposing the reality of the world and unshackling minds. Gibbon wrote: "a rumor was spread among the Christians that the daughter of Theon was the only obstacle to the reconciliation of the prefect and the archbishop; and that the obstacle was speedily removed." (Dzielska 19) On the holy day of Lent, "she was dragged from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and inhumanly butchered, her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp oyster shells, and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames." (Gibbon) For such a glorious deed, the archbishop Cyril was promoted to Saint in the Christian sect of Alexandria, Egypt. She died a martyr at the hands of ignorant fundamentalist. After time, the library was sacked to rubble by invading hoards of Christians and Muslims. All the knowledge she kept, was mostly burned and forgotten. Treasures, as vital as Shakespeare, were lost to us forever. Technological knowledge equivalent to that of the early 16th and 17th century, was lost and not rediscovered until after a thousand years passed in the Dark Ages. After her death, Europe and the rest of the Mediterranean world lived in the state of fundamentalism, fear, death, and pestilence. Now that we are awake we must embrace this woman, and hold her ideals to our heart. She was the last light, before the Dark Ages began and now we must hold that light bright and high for the world to see.