Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr [Hardcover]

Michael A. B. Deakin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2007

In the late fourth and early fifth centuries of our era, Hypatia of Alexandria was the world's greatest living mathematician and astronomer. A strikingly beautiful woman and a devoted celibate, she lived in a city as turbulent and troubled as Baghdad or Beirut is today. She achieved fame not only in her special field, but also as a philosopher, religious thinker, and teacher who attracted a large popular following. Her life ended tragically in violence at the hands of a rampaging mob of Christian fanatics, who killed her for her "pagan" beliefs, some say at the instigation of St. Cyril of Alexandria. This is the first biography of Hypatia to integrate all aspects of her life. Mathematician Michael Deakin emphasises that, though she was a philosopher, she was first and foremost a mathematician and astronomer of great accomplishment. In a fascinating narrative that brings to life a richly diverse ancient society, he describes her work so that the mathematics, presented in straightforward terms, finds its true place in the context of her life as a whole. Deakin supplies full detail on the historical, intellectual, and religious context of Hypatia's times. He also analyses the pattern of her life and thought, and finally gives an account of the events leading up to her lynch-mob execution. Although this outrageous crime has made Hypatia a powerful symbol of intellectual freedom and feminist aspiration to this day, Deakin makes clear that the important intellectual contributions of her life's work should not be overshadowed by her tragic death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...this is a useful book, particularly given the fact that the sources are included." -- The Mathematical Association of America Online Reviews, August 20, 2007. "Deakin's notes are full of useful information, and his book is both comprehensive and captivating." -- ISIS, Vol. 99, No. 3, September 2008

About the Author

Michael Deakin (Monash, Australia) is an honorary research fellow and formerly a senior lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University, Australia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (July 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591025206
• ISBN-13: 978-1591025207
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #719,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A specialist's view, July 27, 2007

By 

SkookumPete (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr (Hardcover)

Deakin is a mathematician, not a classical historian, and apart from his discussion of Hypatia's place in Alexandrian mathematics, this biography contains little that is not already to be found elsewhere, most notably in Maria Dzielska's study. Deakin does a reasonable job of putting Hypatia in a cultural context, but his understanding of late antiquity is superficial and admittedly garnered largely from encyclopedias. On the other hand, he has closely studied the sources for Hypatia's life (which he includes in an appendix) and the meagre evidence for her influence on philosophy and science. His introduction to astrolabes and conic sections is of some intrinsic interest and helps illuminate the state of knowledge in the fifth century, but since we have not one shred of writing that is inarguably Hypatia's work, the connection is rather tenuous. Nonetheless Deakin's conclusions give a valuable new perspective on this best-known of female Hellenists: one of a teacher with a wide range of interests, if not an original thinker.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Lost World of Hypatia, March 14, 2008

By 

Foster Morrison "Foster Morrison" (North Potomac, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr (Hardcover)

The disappointing thing about this book is the lack of a good narrative. The problem is that there is so little known about Hypatia and her world that not a lot can be said. Try to imagine a colony in Egypt of mostly Greek ethnicity, where pagans and Christians both fought and coexisted and interacted, if not always well, with a Jewish minority. The culture was in decline and the science, such as it was, died with Hypatia. This resembles the contemporary USA more than Egypt or any place in North Africa or the Middle East today. The academic mathematics community has become utterly moribund and it is being followed by theoretical physics (see Lee Smolin's book "The Trouble with Physics"). Who is our version of Hypatia? Perhaps Lynn Margulis, a biologist whe dares to be different.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, informative, October 24, 2011

By 

Libris Vermis (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr (Hardcover)

Deakin covers much of the same territory as Maria Dzielska's "Hypatia of Alexandria", but being a mathematician, also comments on her mathematical contributions, which were significant.

The problem for both authors is that there just isn't that much to go on. Deakin used to (and maybe still does) maintain a list on his site of all the contemporary and semi-contemporary writings on Hypatia. Would you be surprised to learn that they all fit on a single double-spaced sheet of printer paper? That's how little we really have, and not a word from Hypatia's own hand; most from her adoring ex-pupil, Synesius of Cyrene. Small wonder that even the most skeptical scholars are willing to use the entry on her from the 10th Century Suda, a sort of lexicon written almost 400 years after her death.

With so few contemporary historical documents to draw on, both books are somewhat dry, as all patient, scholarly works must be; but readers looking for thoroughness will be well rewarded. Plus, I check up on Hypatia scholarship pretty regularly, and while there is almost no end to Hypatia fantasies, pseudo-scholarship, etc, Deakin's and Dzielska's are the only scholarly works for the non-specialist that I'm aware of (references to any others will be GREATLY appreciated!).