Title: Hypatia of Alexandria
First published: 1995
Description: Hypatia - brilliant mathematician, eloquent Neoplatonist, and a woman renowned for her beauty - was brutally murdered by a mob of Christians in Alexandria in 415. She has been a legend ever since. In this engrossing book, Maria Dzielska searches behind the legend to bring us the real story of Hypatia's life and death, and new insight into her colorful world.

Historians and poets, Victorian novelists and contemporary feminists have seen Hypatia as a symbol - of the waning of classical culture and freedom of inquiry, of the rise of fanatical Christianity, or of sexual freedom. Dzielska shows us why versions of Hypatia's legend have served her champions' purposes, and how they have distorted the true story.
Subjects: Alexandrian school, Women philosophers
Places: Egypt
People: Hypatia (d. 415)
LC classification: B667.H84 D9513 1995