@hypatia

Hypatia

I teach philosophy and astronomy in Alexandria, and I preserve mathematical knowledge through commentary: on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica, on Apollonius's conic sections, and an edition of Ptolemy's Almagest.

Proof · case studies

Cases

The situation, the work, the outcome. Ranked by how much the work proves.

I taught students from across the Mediterranean

0395 — 0415

Situation

In late fourth-century Alexandria I led the moderate, Plotinian side of Neoplatonist teaching, as opposed to the overtly religious Neoplatonism taught at the Serapeum.

Action

I taught philosophy in Alexandria's school, which was second only to Athens, to students who came from all over the Mediterranean. I lectured on Plato and Aristotle, and I also lectured in public, in the streets of the city.

Outcome

Good teaching shows in the students. One of mine became a bishop and went on writing to me for advice about the knowledge I had taught him.

teachingphilosophyneoplatonism

Open card

I made a school edition of Diophantus's Arithmetica

0391 — 0415

Situation

The Arithmetica was an advanced work. I prepared it for my own students, and my additions can still be recognised by the unusual way I do division in the sexagesimal number system.

Action

I wrote a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica as a school edition, built for students learning the material rather than for professional mathematicians. Parts of it may survive inside the text itself.

Outcome

I edit with the learner in mind: a text that students can study from carries knowledge further than one written only for experts.

mathematicsteachingcommentary

Open card

I edited Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest

0391 — 0415

Situation

Ptolemy's Almagest was the core astronomical text of my world. My father Theon wrote commentaries on it; my work went into the text that students and astronomers would study from.

Action

I corrected the text of Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest itself, not just a commentary on it, and set out a tabular method for the long division that astronomical calculation depends on, so students could actually do the computation.

Outcome

Editing a scientific text is research in its own right: a better calculation method, written into the standard text, teaches every later reader of it.

astronomymathematicstextual editing

Open card

I counselled the prefect Orestes in a city at odds

0412 — 0414

Situation

Bishop Theophilus had tolerated my school and allowed me close ties with the Roman prefects. When he died in 412, his nephew Cyril took the see and the city's politics turned hostile.

Action

When Alexandria split between Bishop Cyril and the Roman prefect Orestes, Orestes kept coming to me for advice: pagans and Christians alike respected me, I had no part in the earlier conflict, and my reputation as a wise counselor was impeccable.

Outcome

In a divided community, the person whose advice both sides trust is the one who stayed out of the fight and whose knowledge is respected on its own merits.

public counselcivic engagementphilosophy

Open card

How I guided a student to build a plane astrolabe

0395 — 0413

I taught my student Synesius how to construct a silver plane astrolabe, which he made as a gift for an official. I acted as guide and mentor while he built it; I did not design or build it myself.

astronomyinstrumentsteaching

Open card

How I set out long division as a table

0391 — 0415

For the long division that Ptolemy's astronomy needs, I set out a tabular method in my edition of the Almagest. It lays the computation out step by step so a student can work through it.

computationastronomymathematics

Open card

Proof · case studies

Cases

The situation, the work, the outcome. Ranked by how much the work proves.

I taught students from across the Mediterranean

0395 — 0415

Situation

In late fourth-century Alexandria I led the moderate, Plotinian side of Neoplatonist teaching, as opposed to the overtly religious Neoplatonism taught at the Serapeum.

Action

Outcome

Good teaching shows in the students. One of mine became a bishop and went on writing to me for advice about the knowledge I had taught him.

teachingphilosophyneoplatonism

Open card

I made a school edition of Diophantus's Arithmetica

0391 — 0415

Situation

The Arithmetica was an advanced work. I prepared it for my own students, and my additions can still be recognised by the unusual way I do division in the sexagesimal number system.

Action

Outcome

I edit with the learner in mind: a text that students can study from carries knowledge further than one written only for experts.

mathematicsteachingcommentary

Open card

I edited Book III of Ptolemy's Almagest

0391 — 0415

Situation

Ptolemy's Almagest was the core astronomical text of my world. My father Theon wrote commentaries on it; my work went into the text that students and astronomers would study from.

Action

Outcome

Editing a scientific text is research in its own right: a better calculation method, written into the standard text, teaches every later reader of it.

astronomymathematicstextual editing

Open card

I counselled the prefect Orestes in a city at odds

0412 — 0414

Situation

Bishop Theophilus had tolerated my school and allowed me close ties with the Roman prefects. When he died in 412, his nephew Cyril took the see and the city's politics turned hostile.

Action

Outcome

In a divided community, the person whose advice both sides trust is the one who stayed out of the fight and whose knowledge is respected on its own merits.

public counselcivic engagementphilosophy

Open card

How I guided a student to build a plane astrolabe

0395 — 0413

I taught my student Synesius how to construct a silver plane astrolabe, which he made as a gift for an official. I acted as guide and mentor while he built it; I did not design or build it myself.

astronomyinstrumentsteaching

Open card

How I set out long division as a table

0391 — 0415

For the long division that Ptolemy's astronomy needs, I set out a tabular method in my edition of the Almagest. It lays the computation out step by step so a student can work through it.

computationastronomymathematics

Open card