When engaging with ancient theories and philosophies, it is prohibited in contemporary liberal arts academics to emphasize race. This prohibition’s intent is remarkably strong. Let us look at the life of Hypatia, the female mathematician who was born and killed in Egypt.
Consider the tale of Hypatia, a Hellenistic Egyptian from the 4th century. She was a philosopher who lived in a time when women were hardly considered independent.
Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, between 360 and 370 AD. Her birthplace was in the Byzantine realm, which was a near-eastern version of the Roman empire.
The Byzantine dynasty, which had its capital in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey), encompassed a vast area of land that the collapsed Macedonian empire had colonized under Alexander the Great and his forefathers.
The Macedonian kingdom had a Greek ethnic identity. This suggests that Egypt, which Alexander defeated in 332 BC, was Hellenized or coerced to follow Greek lifestyles (Alexandria in Egypt is named after Alexander the Great).
As a result, what we had with Byzantine was a Roman (Latin) empire built in a predominantly Greek cultural setting. Egypt, which had a storied tradition of its own, was then transformed into a Roman-controlled Greek-style province.
Because of the complexities of those narratives, we must ask: What race was the venerable Hypatia if we keep on pinning ancients to current understandings of race?
We don’t know anything about Hypatia’s father, Theon (a Greek name), but it’s thought he was born in Alexandria as well. Even if his forefathers were “ethnic” Egyptians, he would have identified himself as a Greek.
Particularly if they were not inhabitants of the area where the identity came from, ancients in the Mediterranean and Levant regions were used to identifying with overarching community identity.
In Acts 22:25, Saul of Tarsus (later Paul) described himself as a Roman as he was about to face a specific penalty. “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” Saul asked a centurion.
Saul is believed to have been born in Tarsus, in Asia Minor, and not near Rome. Tarsus is now in Mersin, Turkey.
Fortunately for us, Hypatia does not appear to have been stymied by identity politics. Even based on what we know about her, she seems to have spent her whole life in Alexandria.
Hypatia had the luxury of studying since she was born into wealth, unlike many other men and definitely unlike women of her day.
One of the Neoplatonists was Hypatia. Starting in the 3rd century BC, this community of religious, proto-science and cultural philosophers adapted much of Plato’s original theories and modified them to fit specific questions of their day.
This suggests that, as the educated of her day, Hypatia was fascinated by history, arithmetic, and astronomy as a whole. Topic categorization as distinct from one another is a late-modern development.
Hypatia is thought to have been a librarian since she was a teacher. Unfortunately, archaeologists have not discovered any works that can be attributed to Hypatia’s scholarly independence.
However, according to Charlotte Booth’s 2017 book, Hypatia edited Book III of Ptolemy’s Almagest. The mathematics and astronomy of moving celestial bodies are the subjects of the 2nd-century text, whose reproductions can still be found in many universities around the world.
In addition, Alan Cameron claims that Hypatia was responsible for over 100 mathematical problems in an updated version of Diophantus’ Arithmetica in Hypatia: Life, Death, and Works.
Other contemporary authors have lauded her interpretation of the mathematical knowledge of her day. Indeed, she is known for using proprietary algorithms in her calculations, allowing scholars to quickly recognize which works she edited.
The authenticity of Hypatia’s supposed commentaries on a variety of other works is still being investigated.
She is also said to have been an engineer who produced astronomical and mathematical analysis instruments. However, this has been contested by a number of contemporary scholars.
It’s important to remember that Hypatia lived at the pinnacle of Alexandria’s glory. Despite the fact that the famed Library of Alexandria was demolished before Hypatia was born, Alexandria’s allure was still strong in the third century AD.
Hypatia led the greatest life Alexandria and the ancient scientific community had to offer. She was regarded as the first known female mathematician by the Western world (ironic given that she was not born and did not live in the West). At least, before early Christians’ superstition drove them to murder her.
In 415 AD, she was assassinated by a Christian mob who suspected her of witchcraft. Feminists, on the other hand, see her as a source of inspiration for women’s liberation in modern times.
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