Of course some myth has undoubtly evolved about the life of this
remarkable individual. Given her gender and place in history, how
couldn't it ?
However the argument advanced by Anglin is disturbing. Somehow it
suggests more the reasoning of an American trained court attorney
than that of an historian.
I sometimes wonder that if Hypathia had been a Christian convert, she
would had been made a saint by the Church.
Al Barron
Metuchen, NJ
> ----------
> From: Gavin Hitchcock[SMTP:GAVIN@maths.uz.ac.zw]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 3:03 AM
> To: historia-matematica@chasque.apc.org
> Subject: [HM] hypatia
>
> Dear colleagues,
> Can any one answer tell me more, with refs, about the motives of the mob
> who are said to have murdered Hypatia? And the details, and repercussions?
>
> Socrates Scholasticus (History of the Church, Book VII, Chapter 15) says
> she was killed by a mob of `Christians', led by someone called `Peter'.
> Most histories of mathematics seem to assume that the motives of the crowd
> were religious, that is, Hypatia was killed because she refused to be
> converted to the Christian Faith, or because she fell out with Cyril, the
> Christian Bishop of Alexandria. In contrast, W S Anglin (Mathematics: A
> Concise History and Philosophy, Springer 1994) says `there is no evidence
> to support this accusation. Cyril was a zealous leader, but we have no
> reason to think he incited the crowd to make a physical attack on the
> pagan mathematician. Indeed, we have no reason to think that the murder
> had anything to do with religion and science. For all we know, the mob
> killed Hypatia simply because they were poor and unemployed, while Hypatia
> had a permanent well-paid job.'
>
> Was Hypatia in any sense a `mathematics martyr`?
>
> Gavin Hitchcock,
> University of Zimbabwe.