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HYPATIA

In the “First letter to Corinthians”, one of the New Testament’s fundamental texts and therefore one of the doctrinal documents of the Roman Catholic Church, Saint Paul illustrates some rules concerning women: “...But I want you to understand that the man is the head of a woman. Every woman who has her head uncovered while praying disgraces her head. If a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off! but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off, let her cover her head. A man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head,. For her hair is given to her for a covering... As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church...” Socrates Scholasticus, a theologian and historian of the Church of the Roman Eastern Empire, writes of a woman of his times: “...By reason of the confidence and authority which she had acquired by her learning, she sometimes came to the Judges with singular modesty; nor was she anything abashed, to appear thus among a crowd of men; for all persons, on the score of her extraordinary discretion, did at the same time both reverence and admire her...” Damascius, a Byzantine philosopher, the last scholar of the Academy of Athens and considered also the last of the neo-platonic philosophers, of that same woman wrote: “...she was as articulate and eloquent in speaking as she was prudent and civil in her deeds. The whole city loved and worshipped her in a remarkable way, and the rulers, when they were to deal with public matters, turned first to her, as happened in Athens too. For even if philosophy itself had perished, nevertheless, her name still seems magnificent and venerable to the men who exercise leadership in the state,... Since she had greater genius than her father, she was not satisfied with his instruction in mathematical subjects; she also devoted herself diligently to all of philosophy. The woman used to put on her philosopher's cloak and walk through the middle of town and publicly interpret Plato, Aristotle, or the works of any other philosopher to those who wished to hear her...” Palladas of Alexandria, a Greek poet, epigrammatist and grammarian, in his “Palatine Anthology” speak in poetry of the same woman: “...When I see you I prostrate myself before you and your words, seeing the astral house of the Virgin, in fact your every act is dedicated to the sky sacred Hypatia, beauty of words, star of the wise culture....” Her most faithful pupil Synesius also refers to this extraordinary woman in his works and letters: “Salute for me the most holy and revered philosopher, and give my homage also to the company of the blessed who delight in her oracular utterance......A work of my own mind as my most revered teacher bestowed it on......” Anyone who has seen the film Agorà will know that we are talking about Hypatia, the Greek mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, brutally murdered by a mob of fanatic Christians because she was a woman, because she was cultivated, because she was intelligent, because she was a consistent and brave representative of free thought. The image is a graphic version of a frame from Alejandro Amen·bar’s film Agor‡ and a photograph of the orbiting astronomical observatory Hubble.