My dear Hypatia

My dear Hypatia, you were the greatest astronomer and mathematician of your time. You were a professor at the University of Alexandria one and a half millennia ago, teaching mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy, writing books on algebra and geometry. I learned about you through study, would you believe? In your age, it was not common for women to lead an academic life like you did but now we are free to pursue this to our heart’s content. I know you had your father, Theon, to thank; he taught you his trade as a professor like people would usually teach their sons. I did not take the trades of my family; I am forever a student, a learner, a teacher – just like you were!

My dear Hypatia, you embraced everyone with open arms and I can only aspire to do the same. You feared a brewing war between the Pagans and the Christians but you refused to contribute, seeing people as more than only their religious beliefs. You would teach anyone - Pagan or Christian - so long as they had a thirst for learning and a love for wisdom. I have a love for wisdom and I wish I could know more of yours. I consider you to be an intellectual fighter, perhaps, a fighter for knowledge and truth, a soldier in your own right.

My dear Hypatia, you were a rebel. You did try teaching about the great philosophers Plato and Aristotle to the public, to people who wanted to listen, but you were scorned for it. I think you secretly enjoyed your own audacity, posing a challenge and being an anomaly. You refused to let people sink in their own ignorance. The world is an amazingly curious place and the great ideas by philosophers should be spread to those who want to know - I completely appreciate your beliefs! I am passionate about learning and thinking critically just like you were, and I love that you wanted your students to seek wisdom for their own development as a basis for their own actions in the world and with others.

My dear Hypatia, you held your head high. Even though you earned respect it was only a fraction of what was due to you. You were still the subject of the cruel scrutiny of society. Some men in authority looked down upon you and you endured accusations of bewitching people with your 'mad' ideas. Let me tell you, they were just so focused on their greed for power that they were not interested in the Earth and the Wanderers like you were. The Wanderers, the planets that exist above me like they existed above you, that hold the names of the Pagan Gods – you were right about them. It was driving you mad trying to figure out the truth, how the Wanderers revolved around space, how everything was pulled to the centre of the Earth. Everyone else insisted that that the Earth was the centre of the universe but you seemed to suspect better. If only I had your intuition, your cleverness, your way with words. I can only aspire to be half the woman you were.

My dear Hypatia, you were a womanly warrior. You believed beauty couldn’t be identified with a concrete object. You thought there was nothing beautiful about the carnal desire that men loved, thus you thought what they loved was ugly. You even rejected a suitor by giving him your menstrual rags. I daresay your headstrong and rebellious behavior has seeped into many women in my age! You would not entertain the whiles and bodily desires of a man; you devoted yourself to learning and teaching. Upper class women tended to devote themselves to their husbands and children, centering themselves on the needs of the family and some women managed farms and worked for wages. Thank the gods that your father respected your passion for knowledge.

My dear Hypatia, you were ahead of your time. A fulfilling career for its own sake was not something women in your time aspired to. You believed that women should aspire to be whatever they wanted, not conform to the usual simply because society dictated it to be so. You wanted women to find their feet, become independent and strive for more. If they wanted to marry, if they wanted to have children, then at least that was their genuine choice that you would respect them for.

My dear Hypatia, you were a victim. You only saw destruction, disorder and civil unrest crumbling the society around you. You thought that the world would go to ruins if everybody started using violence to solve their problems and, now more than ever, you were right. It is a fearful world I live in but not near as fearful as yours. You were murdered. You were stripped bare by ignorant zealots and beaten to death, limbs torn off and burned, just for being who you were. My poor, poor Hypatia . . . you were horribly wronged.

My dear Hypatia, you are remembered.

My dear Hypatia, you went down in history.

My dear Hypatia, you are one of the greatest women to have ever lived.