Hypatia
of Alexandria (d. 415 A.D.) is the most significant woman philosopher
and mathematician whose life story has come down to us from antiquity.
She was the head of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria, and was a
follower of the 3rd century philosopher Plotinus. Hypatia was
brutally murdered by a Christian mob, reportedly for taking the side of
the governor against the Bishop of Alexandria. As
her works have not survived, she has become something of a mythic
figure, who for some has come to symbolize the beautiful yet unabashedly
intellectual woman who the ruling male powers are unable to tolerate
and who they ultimately seek to destroy. To me, she embodies the question of the meaning
of the feminine, both for and within each of the sexes. From a Jungian,
perspective, I view her “image” as an anima figure that the male struggles to accept and embrace, but ultimately suppresses.
I
have painted the prelude to her assassination in a more contemporary
setting to underscore the continuing force of the dogmatic and
misogynistic attitudes that led to her death.
