In short
Hypatia of Alexandria’s life and legacy—what sources say about her, what she taught (Neoplatonist philosophy plus Euclidean math, optics, astronomy), her likely role in Alexandria’s intellectual culture, and how Christian political violence contributed to her death and later mythmaking.
Guest backgrounds
Professor Edith Hall is a Classics professor at Durham University and author/broadcaster (e.g., Aristotle’s Way). Olga Koch is a comedian, writer, and actor (Mock the Week, QI, co-host of Human Error).
Key claims
Hypatia is supported by near-contemporary letters (Sinesius of Cyrene) and later accounts (Socrates, Damascus, and John of Nikiu). She likely advanced ideas on conic sections via commentary, not “original” breakthroughs. She was killed around 415 by the Parabalani during the Cyril vs Orestes conflict; later portrayals call her a seductress/witch.
Notable examples
the “sanitary pad” anecdote; named objects (Hypatia asteroid belt, butterfly, moon crater); the “Hypatia stone” discovered in 1996 (Libyan glass; ~4.6 billion years old).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOSetting the Stage for Hypatia
0:00 to 1:02
Introduce the topic of Hypatia and her significance in history.
“This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.”
Setting the Stage for Hypatia
2:46 to 3:40
Introduce the topic of Hypatia and her significance in history.
“Olga, previously on the show, you said that your history knowledge is basically all the American presidents and that's it.”
Exploring Hypatia's Historical Context
3:40 to 4:46
Discuss the historical sources available for studying Hypatia.
“Well, that brings us to the first segment of the podcast, which is the So What Do You Know?”
Life in Late 4th Century Alexandria
4:46 to 5:50
Describe the cultural and intellectual environment of Alexandria at the time.
“Slightly firm historical ground because we've got two sources that are approximately contemporary with her, as well as one or two that are quite a lot later.”
Hypatia's Philosophical Beliefs
5:50 to 6:50
Discuss Hypatia's Neoplatonist beliefs and their implications.
“like they exist on the internet in a sort of very casual and very, I guess, like buddy-buddy fashion that's overly familiar.”
Hypatia's Education and Influence
6:50 to 7:50
Explore Hypatia's education and her role in teaching.
“I solve one quadratic equation and all of a sudden I'm a witch.”
Hypatia's Uniqueness as a Woman in Math
7:50 to 9:10
Examine Hypatia's position as a female mathematician in a male-dominated society.
“So she comes into the world, she's born between 350 and 370, AD, CE the exact point as she's reaching adulthood where being an old pagan philosopher is beginning to become a very dangerous thing to be.”
Interpersonal Dynamics in Hypatia's Classroom
9:10 to 10:30
Discuss the dynamics of Hypatia's relationships with male students.
“Oh my God, she lets a man explain it to her.”
Legends and Anecdotes about Hypatia
10:30 to 14:00
Share anecdotes and stories about Hypatia's life and teaching style.
“We've got somebody else in Athens who's another Neoplatonist.”
Hypatia's Bold Rejection
14:00 to 15:52
Explore a humorous story about Hypatia's unusual rejection of a student's advances.
“so they'd be like, I guess you're the one.”
Show all 17 chapters
Hypatia's Contributions to Mathematics
16:57 to 19:10
Discuss Hypatia's role in mathematics and her teaching methods.
“She's got her fans and her students sort of seem to really admire her.”
Conflict in Alexandria
19:10 to 23:03
Understand the tensions in Alexandria during Hypatia's time, including the rise of Cyril.
“What is it that they hated about her writing or her conduct?”
The Tragic Fate of Hypatia
23:03 to 26:54
Learn about the circumstances that led to Hypatia's violent death amidst political strife.
“Cyril starts bringing in various different groups of thugs, really.”
Legacy of Hypatia
26:54 to 28:00
Reflect on Hypatia's significance as a symbol for women in science and philosophy.
“Wait, so this was the beginning of the end, right?”
The Discovery of the Hypatia Stone
28:00 to 29:38
Learn about the discovery and significance of the Hypatia stone linked to ancient history.
“The Hypatia stone was discovered in 1996 by an Egyptian geologist.”
Reflections on Hypatia's Legacy
29:38 to 30:19
Dive into discussions about Hypatia's timeless nature and her connection to astronomy.
“I pay she the eternal idea, the eternal constant in the solar system.”
Reflections on Hypatia's Legacy
31:13 to 32:50
Dive into discussions about Hypatia's timeless nature and her connection to astronomy.
“A little birdie, a tit, told me that you're looking for a podcast just like Evil Genius, but without all those stupid humans.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
0:29Olga Koch:CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend. Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO. LinkedIn ads generates the highest ROAS of all major ad networks. You'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title, and more. So cut the bull spend. Advertise on LinkedIn. The network that works for you. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a 250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Enjoy the sunshine with sales on grill ready favorites from Whole Foods Market.
1:14Olga Koch:Take cookouts to sizzling new heights with their marinated salmon and made in house marinated beef and chicken. Entertain with low price 365 brand chips and dips like hummus and guacamole and sweeten every party with brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Remember to pack the cooler with probiotic sodas, sparkling waters and more. Summer savings await you at Whole Foods Market.
1:40Olga Koch:Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name's Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today we are grabbing our maths textbooks and frolicking back to the 4th century to Egypt to learn all about mathematician and philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria. And to help us, we have one terrific teacher and one sublime student in History Corner. She's Professor of Classics at Durham University. You might have heard her on Natalie Haynes' Stands Up for the Classics or Great Lives on BBC Radio 4. Maybe you've read one of her many books, including Aristotle's Way, How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life and Facing Down the Furies.
2:15Olga Koch:And you'll know her from our episodes on Pythagoras, The Triangle Guy and Aristotle. It's Professor Edith Hall. Welcome back, Edith. Hello, I'm thrilled to be here. Delighted to have you back. And in Comedy Corner, she's a comedian, writer and actor. You'll have seen her on Mock the Week, QI, Frankie Boyle's New World Order, Late Night Mash. Or you've heard her co-hosting the BBC's funny technology podcast, Human Error. Maybe you've seen her award-nominated stand-up show, Olga Koch, Comes from Money. And you'll definitely remember her from our episodes on Ivan the Terrible and Vital Electricity.
2:43Olga Koch:It's Olga Koch. Welcome back, Olga. Thank you so much for having me. Delighted to have you here. Yeah. Olga, previously on the show, you said that your history knowledge is basically all the American presidents and that's it. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, even that was lying. I think maybe half of them. OK, I was going to ask you, who's the 12th American president? Oh, fourth. 12th. Oh, God. Never mind. John Adams is somewhere in there. He's quite early, let's be honest. Is he earlier than fourth? Yeah. Is he second? Yeah. Oh, boy. This is bad. This is bad. Shut it down. Okay, you are doing a PhD right now.
3:21Yes. Crucially, not in history. I would like your listeners to know.
3:25Olga Koch:But you're a woman in STEM, right? Yes. Proudly so. Good. So have you heard of Hypatia of Alexandria? If I'm being completely honest, I only found out that she was a mathematician. But I want to say 30 seconds ago. This is going to be a very, very fun episode. If anything, just for me. So what do you know?
3:48Olga Koch:Well, that brings us to the first segment of the podcast, which is the So What Do You Know? This is where I have a go at guessing what you, our lovely listener, might know about today's subject. You might know from the introduction, like Olga has just discovered, that Hypatia was a philosopher and mathematician. She's a bigger name in recent years, thanks to the 2009 film Agora, starring Rachel Weisz. But you may also know Hypatia from a 1987 episode of Doctor Who, where she's one of several geniuses kidnapped to build a super brain. I did not see that episode. I've not seen any episodes of Doctor Who.
4:16Olga Koch:But what's the truth? That's really not on brand for you at all. I know, I give off real Doctor Who energy, but I've never seen it. But what's the truth behind the dramatic Hollywood Hypatia? How much of a genius was she really? And what on earth is a conic section? Let's find out. Right, Professor Edith, when we did our Pythagoras episode, it turned out we couldn't trust anything written about him by anyone. A lot of fun, but not hugely helpful. Are we on firmer historical ground with Hypatia of Alexandria? We are. We're on slightly firmer. You immediately caveated. Slightly firm historical ground because we've got two sources that are approximately contemporary with her, as well as one or two that are quite a lot later.
4:56So we've actually got some letters by a guy called Sinesius of Cyrene, who was some kind of student or acolyte of her. Cyrene is in Libya. So this is we're talking about the North African Greek intellectual diaspora. He seems to have absolutely adored her, wanted to send her his work and his ideas. She doesn't seem to have answered very much. And at some point stopped contacting him. But the respect he holds her in is very indicative.
5:24Olga Koch:OK, so Sinesius of Cyrene, what a name. He's a bit of a fanboy. Olga, you are an expert in Reply Guys. Wow, what a swerve. I like that. Are you on firm historical territory here? This is the psychology of people who write back? I guess so. It's very interesting. So basically, my master's was about reply guys, which are a catch-all slang term for men who, I guess, incessantly respond to women who don't act like they exist on the internet in a sort of very casual and very, I guess, like buddy-buddy fashion that's overly familiar. This guy kind of recontextualizes it. It's not a modern phenomenon.
6:00Olga Koch:It's been around. What other sources do we have for Hypatia? We have the letters of her fanboy, Zanisius. We've got the biography by Socrates, the scholar, another guy called Damascus, who wrote A Life of Another Neoplatonist, in which she has some interesting stuff, really more about the culture of Alexandria, where she grew up. And we've got the amazingly horrible John of Niki-U, who is a 7th century Coptic bishop. And he wrote a world history, mansplaining history for everybody. And his paragraph on Hypatia is very important because it reflects what people like him thought of her. And that is that she is a seductress, a high class sex worker who beguiles people with witchcraft.
6:46We've got a text that reflects what people were shouting in the street. I solve one quadratic equation and all of a sudden I'm a witch. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:55Olga Koch:Right. Before we get to Hypatia herself, let's talk about the world she was born into. We've previously done an episode in the previous series about the city of Alexandria in Egypt. For Olga's benefit, Edith, can you give us a quick rundown of life in late 4th century Alexandria, this amazing city of learning? It is a city which has had the very famous library and several other libraries and museums attached to it. It's a university city. It's still the greatest university in the whole of the Greco-Roman world. but it's multi-ethnic to an extraordinary degree and has had a history of huge liberalism about that.
7:33But you've also, because of the particular point in history, in the 490s, the first really harsh edicts from the new Christian emperors were coming out. 391 is the edict of Theodosius that all pagan temples have to be shut down. So she comes into the world, she's born between 350 and 370, AD, CE the exact point as she's reaching adulthood where being an old pagan philosopher is beginning to become a very dangerous thing to be.
8:05Olga Koch:But she's a pagan which means she worships multiple gods Yes, I don't think she did worship multiple gods because she's actually a Neoplatonist pagan Come on, obviously It's very important You're embarrassing us. I know, sorry So while there's a sort of notional acceptance of the pagan pantheon And I don't think she had any kind of real faith or prayer life to gods because she believes in this Neoplatonist model of the universe, which is that all of the physical world that we can see around us, everything, our bodies, the environment, nature, anything made out of matter is a second rate copy of the eternal oneness of the world of ideas.
8:48Olga Koch:Yeah. Oh, my yoga teacher thinks the same. Right. A lot of people do. So let's talk about her childhood very briefly. You said she's born somewhere in the 350s, 370s. Olga, how do you think a young woman like Hypatia got into maths in the ancient world? Well, she was a pagan, so I guess she started out by counting the gods. One to twelve. What's your inkling? How do you think a young woman gets into maths at that point in history? Oh my God, she lets a man explain it to her. Was it part of like a curriculum in school? what she taught actually was part of her university curriculum. Now, she's a Nepo baby.
9:23Of course. I mean, I wasn't going to say her dad, but we were all thinking it. And her dad is called Theon, which just means godly. And he is kind of head of the maths department at the library and museum. He is the professor of maths in Alexandria. No son is mentioned. We know nothing about any other member of the family. No mother is mentioned. No sister is mentioned. it's highly likely if he only had one kid and it was a girl there are several instances of this in antiquity where men sort of politely forgot that there was no Y chromosome and actually trained up the daughter as an apprentice I mean that's gone on throughout history we actually know of four other women who were around in the 4th century one actually in Alexandria four whole women four whole women, count them that's a lot we have confirmation of four women There was a mathematician, a good one, called Pandrosion, which is a beautiful name.
10:19It actually means all moist like the morning dew. Then we've got one over at Pergamon, which is the second biggest library, which is on the west coast of Turkey. We've got somebody else in Athens who's another Neoplatonist. So she isn't alone.
10:38Olga Koch:But Hypotia is effectively treated as a son almost by her dad. I believe so. And he's called Theon. What does Hypatia mean? Well, Hypatia is such a weird, that's a sort of Victorian pronunciation. Yeah, I was going to say. Hopatia. Oh. Hopatia. It means the very highest up, the summit, the pinnacle of excellence. Wow. Just the very topmost. No pressure. You know, the topmost. It's just from the Greek word hypsos, which means elevation. That's amazing. I like that a lot. What does Olga mean? I don't want to talk about it. No, it's actually short for oligarch.
11:16To be clear, that's a joke.
11:20Olga Koch:So we have Peisha sort of taking on her dad's school job. He's the teacher, he's the math professor at the library of Alexandria. She takes the role on. What would be on the course that she's teaching? There would be Neoplatonist philosophy. Sure. So how do we think about the material world? How do we think about the one, the unity that will have been introduced? produced actually by a version of Aristotle's logic. It's kind of a synthesis, there's a bit of stoicism in there, because the way to achieve union with the one intellectually and psychologically is actually by a mild form of asceticism.
11:53You've got to live quite a disciplined life physically. You cannot do self-indulgence. It's got a monastic hint, but it's not actually in any way religious. It's all about the self and self-discipline. Then there will have been maths, there'll have been Euclidean maths, there'll have been optics and there'll have been astronomy. So basically all the fields in which you can apply maths. I mean, she sounds busy. She didn't have time to respond to fan mail. They didn't do statistics because that's a Latin word.
12:23Olga Koch:Oh, well, that's Romans for you, isn't it? The Romans, they love data. Yeah, exactly. No spreadsheets in Alexandria. Confirmed. Okay, so Hypatia or how did you pronounce it? Hypatia. Hypatia. Hypatia. that sounds slightly like you're sort of I don't know, it feels slightly like you're tripping over it it's almost like you're sort of falling down the staircase It's very pretty and green It's beautiful So Hypatia is mostly teaching men? Yes Are there any women in her class? I very much doubt it I cannot tell you that for a fact but usually our source is saying that the museum which is the big library where the teaching goes on did not admit women so she seems to be quite exceptional and I'm sure that if she'd actually got married she wouldn't have been allowed in.
13:07You know, I think it's this sort of, she's sort of a virgin who doesn't have anything to do with sex. So she's like a pagan high priestess. Oh, and she stays that way throughout her entire life. As far as we know, yeah. Oh my God.
13:19Olga Koch:Wow. So she's a virgin and a mathlete. Cliché confirmed. Harsh. Sorry. Sorry, mathletes. Olga, how do you imagine the student-teacher relationship going if she's got a class of men who are expecting to learn from men and here's this woman teaching them? Honestly, guys, I don't know. I feel like, first of all, it would stink, okay? Let's just throw that there. A bunch of young boys in one room, unventilated, that place stunk, I can tell you this much, all right? Also, deodorant has been invented, from what I can gather. Yes, links North Africa, yeah. Yeah, so I think it would be a lot of disciplining.
13:58And I bet they would all keep falling for her. She would be the only woman in the university, so they'd be like, I guess you're the one. There's no other chicks, you know what I mean? Is this true? Well, there is a story which I'm absolutely sure is apocryphal, but that one student who was so lovelorn that he kept harassing her to try to get her to go out with him. And it's said that she threw a soaking sanitary pad at him. Queen! And said, that's what you're in love with. Like my physical body. Oh my God, I love that. What you should be after is the true love of the one ideal form of beauty, not this material copy.
14:34She probably would have proved her point better if he didn't absolutely love getting a pad thrown at him. I can guarantee you that.
14:41Olga Koch:So she's got a student who's in love with her. She chucks a sanitary towel at his head. HR surely had words there because you can't do that. But that's an interesting sort of comeback. I bet all the other boys were like, can I have one? I'm telling you.
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15:39Olga Koch:So cut the bull spend. Advertise on LinkedIn, the network that works for you. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a 250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. Enjoy the sunshine with sales on grill-ready favorites from Whole Foods Market. Take cookouts to sizzling new heights with their marinated salmon and made-in-house marinated beef and chicken. Entertain with low-priced 365 brand chips and dips like hummus and guacamole. And sweeten every party with brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
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16:53Olga Koch:Offers may vary. Visit juleosco.com for more details. She's got her fans and her students sort of seem to really admire her. They do. What does she contribute to mathematics? You know, her father had been the great teacher at the school. Does she add new knowledge? Is she as great a mathematician as perhaps Hollywood would like her to be? Probably not that original. She was an expert expounder of complicated mathematical ideas. She wrote big commentary books. This was the great age of commentaries on Euclid's elements, on a guy called Diophantus who wrote the treatise on arithmetic that everybody did, probably on Ptolemy's Almagest, almost certainly on Archimedes, who was one of the greatest, you know, mechanical engineers.
17:43Okay, sounds like she was a reply girl. Yeah. But her own contribution seems to have been of development, again, of somebody else. A guy called Apollonius had written a book on conic sections. Oh, my favourite. She does seem to have advanced how you measure cones or how cones exist. Something to do with cutting through the curving surface that goes round to measure it by doing some sort of intersection. It's not completely clear. I have tried this with an ice cream cone myself. Well, sometimes it's important that it's the developments in these commentaries actually make the original work more relevant.
18:23Like nobody really cared who Shakespeare was and then 10 Things I Hate About You came out and then people sort of started getting it. So I don't think we should underestimate her contribution. No, she was genuinely held to have said something completely original about Cones. And she was also set to just be a really charismatic, brilliant communicator of this stuff. Yeah, so she's an amazing teacher.
18:44Olga Koch:Yes. Her students love her. And that is an enormous gift to be able to express very complicated ideas in very simple ways. Hypatia is quite well-renowned, so much so that several things have been named after her. There's a Hypatia asteroid belt, there's a Hypatia butterfly, there's a Hypatia crater on the moon. So she's getting her retrospective acclaim now. Oh, yes. You know, we are now happy to acknowledge Hypatia as one of sort of the big brains of the ancient world. Well, she's the first woman in STEM. Well, there you go. What was the criticism? What is it that they hated about her writing or her conduct?
19:15The Roman Empire is trying to go Christian and people who taught pagan philosophy. So things like Neoplatonism, which told you to question everything and do scientific explanations for things. So you were going to explain comets as something to do with something that's going on mechanically in the universe, not as a sign from God. this represents an incredible obstacle to converting the population to proper wow christianity so she became a figurehead for like the resistance to the newly converted emperors oh my god so in a way her neo-pagan views were more progressive than the christian
20:03Olga Koch:falsely so hypatia is obviously around in the kind of mid to late 300s and christianity had been arriving in the Roman Empire earlier than that and it'd taken sort of 60, 70, 80 years to sort of become the official religion and a bit of a pushback and then you know but in here we are in Alexandria in Egypt and we've got damage to pagan temples, we've got real physical changes, we've got tensions and we get the arrival of a new person called Cyril but before Cyril there's someone else important we should mention. Yes so between 391 when the Sarepaian was destroyed and the Nicene creed was officially set up as what you have to believe in if you're a Christian.
20:41One of the reasons I think that Hypatia was able to survive and carry on teaching for at least another 20 years was that the patriarch, that means the bishop, Christian bishop of Alexandria, was a guy who was quite sympathetic to her and open-minded called Theophilus. So for 20 years she was under the protection of that bishop and he wasn't going to let all the fanatics close down.
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21:07Olga Koch:So he's a Christian, but he's quite open minded and he's tolerant of her science. And there were plenty of those. Yeah. What happened in 412 is that a very different character got to be the bishop after Theophilus died. And he is called Cyril. Yeah. He only gets into that position by beating up another guy called Timotheus. You know, there's a huge amount of rioting. As is the Christian way. Yeah. But Alexandria had actually, for several hundred years, been known as the riot city. I mean, they do like rioting in Alexandria. So it was almost any excuse for a riot. So there were lots of fights and riots and bloodshed before Cyril even got in.
21:49So I think he's already slightly paranoid before he even gets in. He wants to secure his power base. Things then heat up even further because a new governor appointed by the Roman Empire,
22:02Olga Koch:who's a secular governor, comes in, who's actually a Greek. All these people are Greek, even though they're in the Roman Empire, called Orestes, as in the Greek mythical figure. He just happens to be called Orestes. And that is, it's the face-off between Cyril and Orestes that poor Hypatia is caught. Both of these guys were ruthless. She gets caught in the crossfire. And we start to get violence in the city and we get Cyril and Orestes, you know, they're starting to be on opposite sides of mob violence, right? And some of this mob violence targets Jews, some of it targets Christians, some of it target pagan.
22:36Olga Koch:You know, everyone's getting hurt. So we're thinking, is it modern terms? It's like if the mayor of Rome and the Pope had mobs? Yes. Yeah. Okay. It's almost, yeah, it's, I guess governor of Egypt is a sort of bigger job, I suppose. It's kind of, he's ruling a big old chunk of land, but yeah, but the bishop of, yeah, it's. And the Christians were very, very, very anxious to. Sorry, Mayor of Los Angeles and Tom Cruise. A much better analogy, actually. Yes. Both Orestes and Cyril wanted to be the top guy in Alexandria. And Cyril basically won. Cyril starts bringing in various different groups of thugs, really.
23:17One is his Neitron monks. Then he gets the Parak Bolani, the people who risked their lives. They're really weird because we start off as a group of Christian paramedics. Right. They are paramedics who are supposed to do things like take old people into old people's homes and take people back from hospitals and protect. But they also serve, sort of under Cyril, but they also serve as his private bodyguard, his bouncers, his kind of mafioso thugs. Those two jobs do not normally go together. Well, people don't know, but the entirety of the KGB is trained in first aid. And how not to give it. The exact process we don't understand by which the enmity against Orestes got transferred to Hypatia.
24:07Ooh! Where does she even come into this?
24:10Olga Koch:For five minutes you've been talking, we haven't mentioned her a while. Yeah! I'm sorry. But no, it's a good point. Like, where is she in all this? Wait, does Parabalani have something to do with this? Orestes really likes her. He likes Neoplatonic philosophy. The kind of Alexandrian, his vision is precisely the one where she is going to be this dominant intellectual force and help keep everything open and progressive. And the old Alexandria of intellectual culture is not replaced by a fanatical primitive Christian theocracy. Yeah. I mean, that is what we're talking. Huge issue. But the hate people said she had.
24:44This is where my Coptic bishop from later on comes in useful. They said she had beguiled him sexually and enchanted the governor of the empire with her witchcraft. Which is literally her doing two plus two. He calls four and he's going, whoa! The hatred for her was so much that it did lead to her being assaulted by the Parabolani. Oh, man. So the paramedics turn into paramilitary. Yeah. Blimey. Different explanations have been offered for exactly how the government got so, the secular government under Arrestes got so associated with her. But it was.
25:25Olga Koch:So they're executing and punishing and torturing their enemies. Yes, both sides. Both of them. Yeah. Okay. So did the Parabalani kill Hypatia? Yes. They either arrested her while she was actually teaching or pulled her out of her chariot or vehicle as she was driving to or from her teaching post and took her into a church which had been a temple, I think of Zeus, and had been converted into the cathedral and killed her. She's caught up in this violence. It's in no way her fault. She's not incited it. She hasn't joined a side. She's just been teaching in her. We have no evidence for that whatsoever, that she had any political interest.
26:06She obviously wanted the multi-ethnic and open society, but it was the ire, the rage that Orestes seems to have managed to get aroused in Cyril and the Christians. Orestes then disappears off the... Yeah, I was going to say, what happened to the end? Well, there is no more word of him. He stops being governor. Somebody else comes in as governor and maybe people said that he had screwed up. Sure. Maybe he was actually genuinely upset and thought this is no way to, you know, we don't know very much about him, Guy. What we know most about is Cyril, who went on to be one of the most successful bishops and early Christians of all time, was involved in all the most famous theological disputes and was even made a saint.
26:54Yes. Oh, come on. Wait, so this was the beginning of the end, right? So like from this moment on, it became more and more conservatively Christian, right?
27:01Olga Koch:Yeah. Oh, boy. So Cyril becomes a saint. And then you said that Hypatia becomes a sort of martyr to philosophy later. I think she's a secular saint. Yeah. She becomes a very important representative for both women in science and free thinking. That's amazing. What a life. I mean, Olga, do you think Hypatia deserves her role as, you know, the first woman in STEM? Are you happy with that title? Yes, absolutely. Good. That was just so deeply, deeply sad. I don't have anything. No, I know. But we do know her better, so we do get to celebrate her. And that's, you know, it's worth discussing her. And thank you for that.
27:36Olga Koch:And yeah, it's a very sad end, but extraordinary life, I think. The Nuance Window!
27:45Olga Koch:Time now for The Nuance Window. This is where Olga and I sit silently doing our geometry homework while Professor Edith stands at the front of the class and tell us something we need to know about Hypatia. So my stopwatch is ready. You have two minutes. Take it away, Professor Edith. There's something else other than craters on the moon that have been named after Hypatia. And this is the Hypatia stone. The Hypatia stone was discovered in 1996 by an Egyptian geologist. He discovered it in what are called the Libyan glass parts of the Sahara. Now, Libyan glass is some sort of strange meteorite type, sort of mineral that looks like glass.
28:24He was researching that and he came across a small, very, very rough, craggy looking stone, only about 1.3 inches in diameter, tiny little sparkly diamonds in it. And it has been tested now. It's been sent by people in Los Angeles universities and in South Africa, Johannesburg. This stone's mineral makeup is so extraordinary that it means it's almost certainly made, formed, before our solar system. It is quite extraordinary. Now, he wanted it, the geologists who found it, wanted it called after Hypatia, which is very sweet because as an Egyptian scientist, he saw himself as a descendant. He didn't name it an Arabic name.
29:12He named it, you know, the tradition of the Library of Alexandria. But just imagine this tiny stone, and I've seen lots of different pictures of it. Unfortunately, the scientists have cut it into bits so it's even smaller to examine it. This means that it's more than 4.6 billion years old. It was formed at minus 198 degrees centigrade or colder in a supernova. That's amazing. Beautiful. She's timeless. I feel that.
29:43Olga Koch:I pay she the eternal idea, the eternal constant in the solar system. I mean, pretty good to be 4.2 billion. 4.6 billion. I think she'd like it too because she liked stars and stuff. If I have one takeaway is that she likes all that stuff. But it's kind of union with the one. Yeah. It came from outer space. It came before our galaxy. Thank you, Olga. Thank you so much, Edith. Listener, if you're in the mood for more ancient philosophers with Edith, check out our episodes on Aristotle and Pythagoras. He's more than just a triangle guy. He's quite the life. And to hear more from Olga, of course, you can listen to our episodes on Ivan the Terrible.
30:17Olga Koch:He was terrible, by the way. He really was. That's confirmed. Terrible confirmed. Or the episode on vital electricity, which is an absolute hoot. And remember, if you've enjoyed the podcast, please share the show with your friends. Subscribe to You're Dead to Me on BBC Sounds to hear new episodes 28 days earlier than anywhere else. And if you're outside the UK, you can listen at bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to our guest in History Corner. We had the excellent Professor Edith Hall from University of Durham. Thank you, Edith. Thank you. I had a riot.
30:47Olga Koch:Very fitting. And in Comedy Corner, we had the outstanding Olga Koch. Thank you, Olga. Thank you very, very, very much. And to you, lovely listener, join me next time as we solve another forgotten historical equation. But for now, I'm off to go and beg Rachel Weisz to play me in a movie. Bye! Ah, that would be good.
31:12Olga Koch:Attention, animal lovers, haters and undecideds. A little birdie, a tit, told me that you're looking for a podcast just like Evil Genius, but without all those stupid humans. I'm Russell Kane, waddling onto your feed and squawking about my show, Evil Animals. Every episode, I'm joined by two human guests, or as I like to call them, ex-monkeys, passing judgement on all the creepiest crawlies and the biggest elephants in the room. Are vampire bats terrifying giant mosquitoes? Are bottlenose dolphins sex-obsessed savages? And we're going there. Domestic cats. Evil or genius? Pig out on evil animals in the Evil Genius podcast feed, first on BBC Sounds.
32:16Olga Koch:That's a not-so-great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend. Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO. LinkedIn Ads generates the highest ROAS of all major ad networks. You'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title, and more. So cut the bull spend. Advertise on LinkedIn. The network that works for you. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a 250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. It's cozy season and nothing compares to wrapping yourself in a Minky Couture blanket.
33:05Olga Koch:Luxuriously soft. Perfectly warm. Thoughtfully made. From movie nights to chilly mornings, Minky Couture turns everyday moments into pure comfort. Once you feel it, you'll understand why it's called the original best blanket ever. Visit minkycouture.com or a store near you and make this cozy season your softest one yet.
From the publisher
Greg Jenner is joined in late antique Egypt by Professor Edith Hall and comedian Olga Koch to learn about the life of mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria.
An important mathematical and astronomical thinker, Hypatia is best known today for her brutal death at the hands of Christian fundamentalists. Born to a well-respected mathematician named Theon in fourth-century Alexandria, Hypatia received an unusually advanced education for a woman, and eventually took over her father’s school. But with the city in which she lived riven by religious and political conflicts during the declining days of the Roman empire, she came to the attention of radical Christians – with fatal consequences.
In this episode we explore Hypatia’s trailblazing life as a philosopher and mathematician, and her afterlife as a martyr for intellectual enquiry, and as a certified feminist icon.
This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.
Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Adam Simcox Written by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
