Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hypatia of Alexandria

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Thinkers

  • 60 Accesses

Abstract

Hypatia (c. 355 CE–415 CE) was a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who lived during a particularly turbulent era in Alexandria’s history. In her lifetime, Hypatia was the world’s leading mathematician and astronomer, the only woman for whom such a claim can be made. She was also a popular teacher of Neoplatonist philosophy, attracting scores of loyal students and large audiences. Her teachings and pagan beliefs, coupled with her public presence, ultimately led to her brutal murder by a mob of Christian zealots. As is common with many ancient figures, none of her work has survived, but writings by contemporaries, students, and historians portray her as intellectually brilliant and socially and religiously tolerant. Although her vicious death occupies much of current historical imagination, she should be most remembered for her steadfast commitment to inclusive teaching and learning and the spirit of curiosity and openness she embodied in a climate of anti-intellectualism, intolerance, and violence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alic, M. (1981). Women and technology in ancient Alexandria: Maria and Hypatia. Women’s Studies International Quarterly, 4(3), 305–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bily, C. A. (2004). Hypatia. In C. A. Salowey (Ed.), Great lives from history: The ancient world (pp. 434–436). Salem Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, G. (1993). Women in late antiquity: Pagan and Christian lifestyles. Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M. A. B. (1994). Hypatia and her mathematics. The American Mathematical Monthly: The Official Journal of the Mathematical Association of America, 101(3), 234–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dzielska, M. (1995). Hypatia of Alexandria (F. Lyra, Trans). Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorio, S. F. (2019). The killing of Hypatia. Lapham’s Quarterly. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/killing-hypatia

  • John, B. o. N. (1993). The life of Hypatia. In D. Fideler (Ed.), Alexandria 2: The journal of the western cosmological traditions (pp. 61–63). Phanes Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, B. T. (2019). Though more women are on college campuses, climbing the professor ladder remains a challenge. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/03/29/though-more-women-are-on-college-campuses-climbing-the-professor-ladder-remains-a-challenge/

  • Lasch-Quinn, L. (2020). Ars vitae: The fate of inwardness and the return of the ancient arts of living. University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McHardy, F., & Marshall, E. (2004). Women’s influence in classical civilization. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minardi, C. A. (2011). Re-membering ancient women: Hypatia of Alexandria and her communities (Publication No. 3515940) [Doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molinaro, U. (1989). A Christian martyr in reverse Hypatia: 370–415 A. D.: A vivid portrait of the life and death of Hypatia as seen through the eyes of a feminist poet and novelist. Hypatia, 4(1), 6–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nietupski, N. (1993). Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. In D. Fideler (Ed.), Alexandria 2: The journal of the western cosmological traditions (pp. 45–56). Phanes Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. L., & Petkas, A. (2020a). Introduction: The timeliness of Hypatia. In D. L. Norman & A. Petkas (Eds.), Hypatia of Alexandria: Her context and legacy (pp. 1–6). Mohr Siebeck.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Osen, L. M. (1974). Women in mathematics. MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, E. A. (1952). The Alexandrine library: Glory of the Hellenic world: Its rise, antiquities and destructions. American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petkas, A. (2017). Why name a journal after Hypatia? https://eidolon.pub/why-name-a-journal-after-hypatia-a90b51d56f7c

  • Petkas, A. (2020). Hypatia and the desert: A late antique defense of classicism. In D. L. Norman & A. Petkas (Eds.), Hypatia of Alexandria: Her context and legacy (pp. 7–28). Mohr Siebeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsden, J. (2015). Snapshots from the history of mathematics: Hypatia of Alexandria. Mathematics in School, 44(3), 31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reedy, J. (Trans.) (1993). The life of Hypatia from the Suda. In D. Fideler (Ed.), Alexandria 2: The journal of the western cosmological traditions (pp. 57–58). Phanes Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richeson, A. W. (1940). Hypatia of Alexandria. National Mathematics Magazine, 15(2), 74–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaff, P., & Wallace, H. (Eds.). (2007). Nicene and post-Nicene fathers: Volume II. Cosimo Classics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinicor, F. (1997). Hypatia: Change, limits, and interconnectedness. Diabetes, 46, 1923–1927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waithe, M. E. (1992). Hypatia of Alexandria. In M. E. Waithe (Ed.), A history of women philosophers. Volume 1: Ancient women philosophers 600 B.C. – 500 A. D (pp. 169–195). Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waithe, M. E. (1996). Finding bits and pieces of Hypatia. In L. L. McAlister (Ed.), Hypatia’s daughters: Fifteen hundred years of women philosophers (pp. 4–15). Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, E. (2020). Hypatia and her eighteenth-century reception. In D. L. Norman & A. Petkas (Eds.), Hypatia of Alexandria: Her context and legacy (pp. 193–208). Mohr Siebeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, E. J. (2017). Hypatia: The life and legend of an ancient philosopher. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitfield, B. J. (1995). The beauty of reasoning: A reexamination of Hypatia of Alexandria. The Mathematics Educator, 6(1), 14–21.

    Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Alic, M. (1986). Hypatia’s heritage. A history of women in science from antiquity through the nineteenth century. Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deakin, M. A. B. (2007). Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and martyr. Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. L., & Petkas, A. (Eds.). (2020b). Hypatia of Alexandria: Her context and legacy. Mohr Siebeck.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronchey, S. (2021). Hypatia: The true story. De Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, Rutgers University-Newark, Newark, NJ, USA

    Charity Anderson

  2. Graduate School of Professional and Applied Psychology, Rutgers University-Piscataway, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Kristen Foley

Authors
  1. Charity Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kristen Foley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charity Anderson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Leadership, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Brett A. Geier

Section Editor information

  1. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Regina Garza Mitchell Professor

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Anderson, C., Foley, K. (2022). Hypatia of Alexandria. In: Geier, B.A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Thinkers . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81037-5_9-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81037-5_9-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-81037-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-81037-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation