The following is an introduction to her by Baidu Encyclopedia.

hypatia

(English: Hipatia, Greek: υ π α τ? α; 370-4 15), a Greek scholar in ancient Egypt, was a famous and popular female philosopher, mathematician, astronomer/astrologer and teacher at that time. She lived in Alexandria, ancient Egypt in the Hellenistic era and made great contributions to the intelligentsia in the city. According to the data of later generations, she commented on Arithmetic by Diophantine, Conic Curve by apollonius and Ptolemy's works, but none of them remained. From the letter written to her by her student Sinisius of Gulinai, we can see her knowledge background: she belongs to the Platonic School-although we can only assume that she adopted Plotinus's theory (Plotinus was a Platonic disciple in the third century A.D. and the founder of the Neo-Platonic School). In addition, there is a little evidence that Hipatia's most famous contribution to science is the invention of celestial observatories and hydrometers.

Hipatia is the daughter of Theon, the last researcher in the Alexandria Museum. Theon is both Hipatia's father and her mentor. Hipatia did not teach in the Alexandria Museum, but gave lectures in her own home. Around 400 AD, Hipatia became the leader of Plato School in Alexandria, teaching mathematics and philosophy, and many famous Christians were among her students. Hipatia has no portrait handed down from ancient times, but in the imagination of writers and artists in the19th century, she has the beauty of the goddess Athena.

In 39 1 year, Bishop Tiefilo Alexander destroyed some pagan belief centers in the city, possibly including the Alexandria Museum, and confirmed its inclusion in the Serrapi Temple (which is dedicated to Serrapi, the Egyptian night god, and is also a sub-library of the Alexandria Library). In the same year, Emperor Theodosius I of the Roman Empire issued a ban on all kinds of pagan worship. Since then, Christians throughout the Roman Empire have devoted themselves to cracking down on paganism and began to destroy all kinds of Christian pagan churches-although this phenomenon has become a trend before the ban was promulgated.

Hipatia was in the conflict between "pagans" and Christians. When Christians want to completely flatten pagan beliefs in order to consolidate the status of Christianity and Roman emperors, both sides can say that there is no possibility of reaching an understanding. Although she was a pagan, Hipatia was still revered by many Christians, and some Christian writers in later generations even promoted her status to a symbol of virtue, and was often described as a virgin until her death. Suda is one of the sources of information. In Suda Dictionary, she described throwing feminine hygiene products at a suitor and refusing his pursuit. [1] However, the descriptions behind her are often contradictory, so they are not completely reliable.

And her contemporaries-Christian historian Quaid (Socrates Scholasticus) described Hipatia in his History of the Church:

"There is a woman named Hipatia in Alexandria, who is the daughter of philosopher Zi Yuan. She is not only profound in literature and science, but also far superior to her contemporaries. She inherited Plato and Plotinus School and explained their philosophical thoughts to the audience. Many people came from thousands of miles away just to get her instructions. Based on good upbringing, she has a calm and approachable temperament. She often appears in public and in front of local governors, and she is never embarrassed to attend male parties. For men, because of her extraordinary dignity and virtue, they can only love her more. "

Her student, Sinatra, later became the bishop of Tromais. Sinatra also respected and loved his teacher, and his letter to Hipatia also revealed the contradiction among intellectuals in Alexandria in the early 5th century. In a letter, he complained about some people who turned to study philosophy after failing in other fields: "Their philosophy is composed of very simple formulas. When they want to deny or advocate something, just like Plato said' God can testify', the shadow will cover up their argument of infinite transcendence, but they are still extremely conceited. " In this letter, he also told Hipatia that "the same person" accused him of hiding "unedited" books [2], suggesting that books at that time were often rewritten to serve Christian dogma-the mystery of Hipatia's life story is probably related to this, and because of this, it is difficult for future generations to find more reliable and accurate clues about her life.

There are many versions of the story that Heath Pathias was killed by a mob. Some people say that this is a spontaneous behavior of local Christians. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, turned a blind eye because of the contradiction with Governor Orestes. Some people say that this is a conspiracy directly supported by the Roman emperor; Some people say that this is the work of a group of lawless and "vulgar" mobs (this matter has never mentioned military intervention), and not only Christians, but also non-Christians. In addition, it is said that Hipatia participated in the rebellion, so she was born to die.

Soquaid described her death in the history of the church like this:

"She was a victim of political jealousy, which was very common at that time. Because she often met with Orestes, there was a rumor among Christians that she was preventing Orestes from making peace with the Archbishop. So, driven by anger and obsession, some Christians, led by an admirer named Peter, ambushed Hipatia on her way home, dragged her out of the carriage, took her to a church called Caesario, stripped her naked, and killed her with bricks and dismembered her. Her scarred limbs were taken to a place called Cinaron and burned. This incident is notorious all over the world, not only in Cyril, but also in the whole Christian church in Alexandria. Of course, allowing such slaughter, struggle or exchange of interests is the most un-Christian thing. This happened in the March of Lent, which was the fourth year that Cyril was bishop, the tenth time that Honoriu was bishop, and the sixth time that Theodosius I was Roman consul. (AD 4 15)"

In the 7th century, the Bishop of Nicky, John? ), her death has the following narrative, he is obviously based on Quaid, but made a different conclusion, and described Hipatia as a witch:

"In those days, a female philosopher appeared in Alexandria, a pagan named Hipatia. She devoted all her time to magic, celestial observatories and musical instruments, and deceived many people with her devilish tricks. The local governor of this city respects her too much, because she also plays him in the palm of her hand with magic, and he will never go to church as before ... A group of devout believers gathered together, followed the guidance of Judge Peter, who is now a perfect believer and believes in Jesus Christ wholeheartedly, and began to look for this pagan woman who used magic to lure officials and citizens astray. When they found her whereabouts, they approached. They found her sitting high in the chair. In order to get her down, they dragged her to the ground, took her to a cathedral called Sisulun, tore off her clothes and dragged her to the street until she died. They took her to a place called Sinalon and burned her body with fire, so everyone surrounded the patriarch Cyril and called him' the reincarnation of Tiflo' because he destroyed the last remnants of idol worship in Alexandria. " [3]

Edward gibbon described this in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (later, in Smith's Dictionary of Biographies and Myths of Greece and Rome, it was recorded almost verbatim):

Hipatia, the daughter of mathematician Zi Yuan, was inspired by her father's theory. She explained the theories of Apollonius and Diophantine accurately and completely with profound comments. She also publicly taught the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato in Athens and Alexandria. This humble virgin, Yan Ruchun, is in full bloom, but she has mature wisdom. She refused to be courted by her lover and devoted herself to teaching her disciples. The most glorious and prominent figures can't wait to visit the female philosopher. Cyril, on the other hand, stared enviously at the coronation chariots, horses and slaves gathered in front of her lecture hall. So rumors spread quietly among Christians, saying that Zion's daughter was the only stumbling block for Roman officials to shake hands with the archbishop. This stumbling block was quickly removed. On a fatal day, during the holy lent, Hipatia was pulled out of her two-wheeled vehicle, her clothes were torn to pieces, and she was dragged all the way to the church. She was slaughtered to death by a group of barbarians and cruel fanatics of reader Peter the reader with bare hands, and her flesh was scraped off the bone by a sharp clam shell, still shaking. The just investigation and punishment were finally abandoned because of the timely gift, but the murder of Hipatia left an indelible stain on Cyril's personality and belief in Alexandria. "

The Catholic Encyclopedia says:

"In 422, there were several riots, one of which killed the chief executive, Callistos, and the other was the murder of the female philosopher Hipatia. Hipatia is a respected teacher, belonging to the Neo-Platonic School, and is old (it is said). She is a friend of Orestes, and many people think that she is the one who stands between the archbishop and the governor and prevents the reconciliation between the two dialects. So, a group of thugs, led by Peter, who read the Bible, dragged her to a church and scraped off her flesh with pottery fragments until she died. According to Soquaid, this was a big stain on the Christian church in Alexandria and the archbishop at that time. However, biblical readers are not priests (Scr. , v, xxii), Soquaid did not imply that Cyril himself must be blamed for this matter. Although da muskie Oss once made such a complaint, it was the argument of later generations. Besides, he hates Christians. " [4]

Theologians Sodan and Hepp [5] believe that Hipatia may be the first so-called "witch" persecuted by the forces of the Christian church. Many authors who stand in the position of criticizing the church also claim that Hipatia's death method of "tearing flesh and blood with iron hooks" seems to be in line with Constantine II's way of punishing witchcraft.

Some authors regard the death of Hipatia as a symbol of "irrational religion persecuting rational heresy", and carl sagan, an astronomer and popular science writer, is one of them. In the book Universe, there is a vivid description. Early writers such as Voltaire and edward gibbon held similar views. Polish historian Maria? Maria Dzielska published a book "Hipatia of Alexandria" in 1995, and made a detailed study of Hipatia's death. For Hipatia's death, this book explains that it is the result of the struggle between two factions in Christianity, one is Orestes, a dove supported by Hipatia, and the other is. Smith also put forward this view. He said: "She was accused of getting too close to the Governor of Alexandria, Orestes. This crime spread among the clergy, who thought that she hindered the friendship between Orestes and Archbishop Cyril. "