Who is Hypatia???

Hypatia – This name would be a strange one for many of you. I just came to know about this name only yesterday while going through a much anticipated book, “Francis Ittycora”. I have only finished reading just half of the Novel and by now I am happy that I have got my moneys worth. And what makes me to write this blog is not the mystery that surrounds the central character, Francis Ittycora, but the knowledge about a lady who lived in Alexandria some time back. It’s her name Hypatia (pronounced as Haipeshia). Hypatia was born in the latter half of the 4th Century CE and was died (should say murdered) in some day of the March, 415 CE.
What is so much in it to spend my precious time for an unknown lady who lived and died in periods we are not much aware of? Anyway the answer is simple for me to be interested in it just because the fact that she was killed by an angry Christian mob led by a person known as Peter. So then I have the right to be interested…Isn’t it…???
Ok. I will just try to tell the story without much boredom. If I fail in my mission please forgive me.
Alexandria (in Egypt) – once very much like our Thakshashila and Nalanda – was the hub of Knowledge, Research and Studies of that part of the world. One such institution was ‘Museum of Alexandria’, which was headed by an exceptional genius, Theon. Hypatia was his daughter and and so much of conviction she became the Teacher of the same institute, giving lectures on Neo-Platonism to her students mostly from the Christian community and also from other communities.
Cyril, the then Christian Bishop of that region was not so much impressed with Hypatia’s lectures as she was a pure ardent of Knowledge especially in Maths. She was astonished by the mathematical proportions which were evident every where in this nature such as the Divine proportions. And she also was blessed with the same Divine Proportion. No doubt that the Christian Heads were wobbling as she was passing on the wisdom, the Science, the natural facts to her students. And the second factor for Vatican to worry about her is simply because the fact the she was a woman. Christian heads were very much concentrating in eradicating the women priests who did the religious rituals inmost of the European and American villages before the arrival of Christian Missionaries. She was free in her thoughts and her philosophy was to enjoy life. On the course of enjoying her life she came to meet Orestes the Governor of Alexandria who was appointed by the Roman Empire. Even Orestes had problems with Cyril as Orestes opposed Cyril’s ideas of throwing away Jews from the town. When both Orestes and Hypatia decided to marry, that rang alarm bells to the Christian Officials. They decided to wipe her off. While travelling on her chariot, she was stopped by the early said “angry mob” and according to accounts from that time, stripped her, killed her, stripped her flesh from her bones, scattered her body parts through the streets, and burned the remaining parts of her body along with her much loved Museum of Aleaxandraia.
Her students fled to Athens where they spread her thoughts and carried over her name and fame and her willpower to stand against the powerful force of this palnet – The Church In the novel “Francis Ittycora” Hypatia’s life is sketched in a very lively manner. Even Ittycora is passionate about the lifelines of Hypatia. Hypatia is just a single example of what the church had done in the past not so much doing in the present, who are supposed to be the prophets of peace. It is better to keep away from churches than accepting a share of the blood shed by them in the past.