They now set their gaze on the city’s beloved teacher of mathematics and philosophy, whose social ranking was on par with Alexandria’s most important men. Almost certainly Cyril did not murder Hypatia. Hypatia was forgotten by Western thought for fourteen hundred years. The Theodosian Code (dated 438) remembers “the terror of those who are called parabalani,” and the historiographer Eunapius calls them “men in appearance but who led the lives of swine, and openly did and allowed countless unspeakable crimes.” Greek orator Libanius wrote to Emperor Theodosius in 386 to complain about the monks’ brutality: [The monks] hasten to attack the temple with stick and stones and bars of iron…utter desolation follows, with the stripping of roofs, demolition of walls, the tearing down of statues and the overthrow of altars…the priests [pagan priests of the sanctuary] must either keep quiet or die. Hypatia belonged to the Pagan school of Greek ideology, whose beliefs were in constant strife with the dominant religion of Christianity. The emperor provided tax relief for churches, subsidizing the empire’s financial loss by sacking ancient temples and melting their statues to collect precious metals. More careful scholars have mentioned ancient accounts in which the female neo-Platonic philosopher and mathematician Hypatia was killed by a "Christian" mob in Alexandria. Their fraught relationship intensified, with neither side willing to compromise. She had powerful allies all over the empire and a slew of civic honors. Relevance. 5 years ago. Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy The temple—as grand as Athens’ Acropolis—was razed to the ground, and its images, artwork, and statues were molten into pots and utensils for use by the church. By contrast Cyril was unwanted and disliked. Christian historians celebrated the murder of Hypatia by comparing her death to Cyril’s uncle’s destruction of the Serapeum: “all the people surrendered to the patriarch Cyril and named him ‘the new Theophilus’; for he destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city.” Cyril was venerated with the rare title “Doctor of the Church” and canonized as a saint. There is no conceivable way to justify such a violent act by a Christian on anyone, whether their philosophy disagrees with Christianity or not. she and orestes were Cyril's most powerful opponents in his quest for control of Alexandria. Sixth-century pagan sympathizer Zosimus speaks of Constantine’s character: Now that the whole empire had fallen into the hands of Constantine, he no longer concealed his evil disposition and vicious inclinations, but acted as he pleased, without control. Finding himself at an impasse, he stewed in jealous rage against Hypatia, viewing her as the primary obstacle blocking his reconciliation with Orestes. It is not even certain that the library was burned in the fourth century at all. How could God command a person to commit murder and genocide, which must have caused moral, psychological, and emotional trauma? This state of affairs changed when Theodosius I became emperor in 379; by 380 he had declared Christianity the state religion. Constantine himself authored the Nicene Creed, probably the best-known utterance of a Roman emperor: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” The creed established the precise manner in which God was to be understood, setting into motion the persecution of Christians who interpreted scripture differently, in addition to all pagans. Christian factions had previously preached and interpreted their own unique gospels. The parabalani surrounded Orestes as he rode through the city and publicly accused him of paganism. Louise C. Lv 7. Hypatia came from a rich family that formed part of Alexandria’s civic elite. Worse, he authorized the demolition of pagan temples and holy sites to their very foundations. Cyril didn't instigate the crowd. Hypatia and Archimedes’ Dimension of the Circle . Cyril did not instigate the mob against Hypatia nor was he there when they killed her. Orestes saw this not as a truce but as a pretense for publicly demonstrating his subservience to the bishop. Her father was also a mathematician who taught math at the University of Alexandria.