Introduction

"Hypatia the Intellictual: The Great Teacher"
By Nolan Flike
During the ancient times of Greeks and Romans there were many great male philosophers that are still studied today including Antisthenes, Pythagoras, and Empedocles. However many people do not realize that there were many great Roman woman philosophers during this time also (we do not know about Greek women philosophers because women in Greece had less rights than women in Rome). Even though there are many examples of great women philosophers in Rome we do not see many writings from ancient biographers telling their life stories because at that time it was not socially acceptable to write about women. Despite the lack of writings on these women, historians such as Silvia Ronchey have been able to piece together the lives of some of these women such as Hypatia the Intellectual. Her biography however is written differently than most ancient biographers in the sense that she just gives a broad overview of some of Hypatia’s accomplishments not how she actually lived and thought. This is at no fault to Ronchey who has few sources due to the lack of writings on women and the time that has passed since these women wrote. If ancient biographers like Diogenes Laertius had written on Hypatia we can imagine he would have had more quotes from her and the people that knew her to show how she thought and acted daily.
Category:The life of Hypatia