31/12/2009

Hypatia de Alexandria












Synesius: Why do you insist in questioning things? Can't you just accept truth?
Hypatia: You have your religion. I'm a philosopher. You don't question what you believe. I must.

* excerto do filme Ágora



'A Woman ahead of her time'


She was a woman in a world of men. She was a woman who wanted to lead her life as a man would have, with the same freedom to do research and devote herself to philosophy, like her father. Hence the decision never to give herself to any man, so she would never be robbed of the freedom she needed. She believes in reason and doubt. And she's not willing to step down on that.

Alejandro Amenábar sobre Hypatia

# Site Oficial


Hypatia, 1885, por Charles William Mitchell (1854 - 1903)

Sugestões de leitura:

# Tom O'Neil no Armanium Magnum: "Agora" and Hypatia - Hollywood Strikes Again
#  Mangasar Mugurditch Mangasarian 1859-1943, 'The martyrdom of Hypatia, or, The death of the classical world', in The Rationalist, Maio de 1915


Hypatia representada numa ilustração de 1908



Sobre Hypatia:
e também :



E-books:

Select a character by clicking on his image! Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), Scuola di Atene (1509-1510)


Uma curiosidade ou um detalhe pleno de significados:

Quando o pintor Raphael apresentou os primeiros esboços do que viria a ser o fresco Escola de Atenas ao Vaticano, o Papa perguntou-lhe quem era a mulher representada entre os filósofos Parménides e Diógenes. Raphael respondeu: «Hypatia, a aluna mais famosa da Escola de Atenas. Foi professora de filosofia, matemática e astronomia na Universidade de Alexandria e sem dúvida uma das maiores pensadoras de todos os tempos.” 
O Papa replicou então: «Retira-a da obra. Os conhecimentos que representa vão contra a fé dos crentes! Fora isso, o teu trabalho é aceitável.” 
The Bishop's words struck at the heart of Raphael's original artistic conception.  It had been the artist's intention to depict Hypatia standing alone in the center foreground, located, spatially, between the viewers of the fresco and the central figures of Plato and Aristotle, as homage to her unique role, temporally, as guardian and transmitter of their ancient wisdom and inquiring spirit to their intellectual heirs in future eras. 
Yielding to the power of the purse strings, Raphael's initial reaction was simply to omit the figure from his final working drawing, but he then proceeded instead to disguise his original intention as an intimate gesture to his holy patron.  In an area which had been vacant in the preliminary compositional sketch, directly behind and between the images of Pythagoras and Parmenides, the artist's final working drawing, the “cartoon” (detail), bears the image of Hypatia, her dark skin recast to a very pale white and her facial features altered to resemble those of the “beloved” nephew of the Pope.  Raphael thereby restored Hypatia to a rightful place in his masterpiece among her intellectual peers. 
While the figure of Hypatia was displaced and disguised, her posture and demeanor were preserved.  Unlike almost all of the other characters in the fresco, Hypatia is depicted, not engaged in philosophic inquiry with her peers, but instead directing her gaze out of the painting, towards the viewer standing in front of the fresco.  The only other figures so depicted are those of the historian, Diogenes of Laertius, and the artist himself.  Raphael thereby symbolizes the roles of the chronicler, the curator, and the artist in projecting, into the future, the intellectual and spiritual thrust of the School of Athens. 
(Also, whereas the figure of Hypatia was displaced, the figure of Heraclitus is the only major figure in the entire work that was totally absent from Raphael's final working drawing, the “cartoon”, of all the figures in the fresco.  In fact, subsequent examination of the fresco confirms that the figure of Heraclitus was painted in on an area of fresh plaster put on after the adjacent figures were completed.  This block-like figure plugged up the visual hole, the expanse of marble steps and flooring in front of Plato and Aristotle, left unoccupied by Hypatia's displacement.) 
Thus, the effeminate, white-robed figure in Scuola di Atene serves here to represent the first significant female philosopher, and the last philosopher, of the ancient age.  The pale complexion and juvenile visage of Pope Julius II's beloved nephew was apparently sufficient distraction to have prevented the Pope's recognition of Raphael's representation of Hypatia of Alexandria, an official enemy of the Church, whose martyrdom at the hands of Nitrian monks had signaled the death of the classical world. 

fonte

    Hypatia and the Philosophers of Alexandria


    Written by Ginny Adair, Class of 1998 (Agnes Scott College)

    The life of Hypatia was one enriched with a passion for knowledge. Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, who was considered one of the most educated men in Alexandria, Egypt. Theon raised Hypatia in a world of education. Most historians now recognize Hypatia not only as a mathematician and scientist, but also as a philosopher.
    Historians are uncertain of different aspects of Hypatia's life. For example, Hypatia's date of birth is one that is highly debated. Some historians believe that Hypatia was born in the year 370 AD. On the other hand, others argue that she was an older woman (around 60) at the time of her death, thus making her birth in the year 355 AD.
    Throughout her childhood, Theon raised Hypatia in an environment of thought. Historians believe that Theon tried to raise the perfect human. Theon himself was a well known scholar and a professor of mathematics at the University of Alexandria. Theon and Hypatia formed a strong bond as he taught Hypatia his own knowledge and shared his passion in the search for answers to the unknown. As Hypatia grew older, she began to develop an enthusiasm for mathematics and the sciences (astronomy and astrology).
    Most historians believe that Hypatia surpassed her father's knowledge at a young age. However, while Hypatia was still under her father's discipline, he also developed for her a physical routine to ensure for her a healthy body as well as a highly functional mind. In her education, Theon instructed Hypatia on the different religions of the world and taught her how to influence people with the power of words. He taught her the fundamentals of teaching, so that Hypatia became a profound orator. People from other cities came to study and learn from her.
    Hypatia's studies included astronomy, astrology, and mathematics. References in letters by Synesius, one of Hypatia's students, credit Hypatia with the invention of the astrolabe, a device used in studying astronomy. However, other sources date this instrument back at least a century earlier. Claudius Ptolemy wrote extensively on the projection used on the plane astrolabe, and Hypatia's father wrote an astrolabe treatise that was the basis for much of what was written later in the Middle Ages. Hypatia did teach about astrolabes as Synesius had an instrument made that was argueably a form of astrolabe.
    Hypatia was known more for the work she did in mathematics than in astronomy, primarily for her work on the ideas of conic sections introduced by Apollonius. She edited the work On the Conics of Apollonius, which divided cones into different parts by a plane. This concept developed the ideas of hyperbolas, parabolas, and ellipses. With Hypatia's work on this important book, she made the concepts easier to understand, thus making the work survive through many centuries. Hypatia was the first woman to have such a profound impact on the survival of early thought in mathematics.
    Hypatia lived in Alexandria when Christianity started to dominate over the other religions. In the early 390's, riots broke out frequently between the different religions. Cyril, a leader among the Christians, and Orestes, the civil governor, opposed each other. Hypatia was a friend of Orestes and it is believed that Cyril spread virulent rumors about her. In 415 AD, on Hypatia's way home, a mob attacked her, stripped her and killed her with pieces of broken pottery. Later, the mob dragged her through the streets.
    Hypatia's life ended tragically, however her life's work remained. Later, Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz expanded on her work. Hypatia made extraordinary accomplishments for a woman in her time. Philosophers considered her a woman of great knowledge and an excellent teacher.




    References

    1. Deakin, Michael. "Hypatia and Her Mathematics," The American Mathematical Monthly, 101, No. 3 (March 1994), 234-243. Available at the MAA web site http://www.maa.org/pubs/calc_articles.html or Jstor (subscription required).
    2. Deakin, Michael. Hypatia of Alexandria, Mathematician and Martyr, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2007.
    3. Hypatia of Alexandria, transcript of a talk by Michael Deakin, archived at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/or030897.htm
    4. The Primary Sources for the Life and Work of Hypatia of Alexandria by Michael Deakin.
    5. Knorr, Wilbur. "On Hypatia of Alexandria," in Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Geometry, Birkhauser, 1989.
    6. Dzielska, Maria. Hypatia of Alexandria. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
    7. Osen, Lynn M. Women in Mathematics. United States: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1974.
    8. Perl, Teri. Biographies of Women Mathematicians and Related Activities. United States: Addison-Wesley, 1978.
    9. Koch, Laura Coffin. "Hypatia," Notable Women in Mathematics: A Biographical Dictionary, Charlene Marrow and Teri Perl, Editors, Greenwood Press, 1998, 94-97
    10. Neugebauer, Otto A., "The Early History of the Astrolabe", from "Astronomy and History: Selected Essays", Springer-Verlag (1983).
    11. Longfellow, Ki. Flow Down Like Silver: Hypatia of Alexandria (a novel), Eio Books, 2009.
    12. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
    13. Biography, BiographyMacTutor History of Mathematics Archives
    14. Howard Landman's collection of Hypatia WWW links at http://www.polyamory.org/~landman/Hypatia/
    15. Hypatia of Alexandria, from Cosmopolis.com.

    via Agnes Scott College 


    Resources

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    The following links once worked, but may now be dead:
    There also was a heated discussion in a series of messages on the LT-ANTIQ mailing list in Feb 1996:

    About the struggle between science and "revealed" religion

    via  Howard A. Landman
    publicada por por AMC
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