Hypatia (370-415 AD) was a popular Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and mathematician who rose to prominence in Alexandria, Egypt. At the time, Alexandria was one of the great intellectual and cosmopolitan centres of the world, but it was also a politically turbulent and violent city. Unfortunately, Hypatia was to become a victim of the strife-ridden politics of Alexandria.

Her father was the mathematician and astronomer Theon, who is said to have been a member of the illustrious Alexandrian Museum, or “Shrine of the Muses” as it was called. This group was made up of the intellectual elite who shared erudition and common meals, and even Roman emperors occasionally came to give lectures and participate in debates.

Theon is best known as a commentator on the astronomical works of Ptolemy, and it was Theon who imbibed in his daughter, Hypatia, a love of learning and of mathematics and astronomy in particular. Hypatia would assist her father by editing and even revising some of his writings and by giving public lectures with him. Hypatia is thought to have been a follower of Neoplatonism, even though none of her books has survived and the content of her teachings remains almost completely unknown.

There is little doubt, however, that she was regarded in her own time as a great philosopher. In a 10th-century encyclopedia (the “Suda Lexicon”) she is described as being “more courageous than her father and she was not content with her mathematical education but boldly reached up to the other philosophy.” And the 5th-century church historian, Socrates Scholasticus, stated: “She outdid the philosophers of her time… Those interested in philosophy run to her from everywhere.” Indeed, Hypatia quickly became Alexandria’s most celebrated teacher of philosophy and astronomy.

She was said to be not only a brilliant scholar and an eloquent speaker, but also exceptionally beautiful as well as highly virtuous (she is said to have remained a virgin to the end). This dazzling combination of qualities made her very popular with her students, which included both pagans and Christians. One of her most famous students, Synesius of Cyrene, would later in life write her a letter saying that, even if he were in Hades, she would be the only one he would remember. But not everyone was so fond of Hypatia.

A group of Christians in Alexandria, possibly incited by the bishop of the city, Cyril of Alexandria, brutally murdered her. The reasons for targeting her are unclear, but the way in which they committed the murder has been preserved by the historian Socrates: “They waylaid her returning home, and dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her by scraping her skin off with tiles and bits of shell. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them.” Hypatia has since become a martyr and a symbol for the cause of philosophy and of feminism. She has inspired many novels and many women, and recently the film “Agora” (with Rachel Weisz as Hypatia) powerfully depicted her final years.

But I like to remember her in her own words, when she (reputedly) said: “Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”

Dr Nick Trakakis is a Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University. He recently edited “Southern Sun, Aegean Light: Poetry of Second-Generation Greek-Australians”.