Hypatia I I I I was was was was Hypatia of Alexandria. a philosopher. a mathematician. murdered.

I was the last librarian of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Watching it burn, I thought I was witnessing the end of the world. In a way, I was, for the world I had come to love so dearly was dying. An Age of Faith was attempting to erase the leaps forward we had made. As the head of the Platonist School, I welcomed all who wished to learn. How nave of me to believe that the thirst for knowledge draws us all To the agora where we can share new ideas, shed out-dated ones and grow Not only in wisdom but also in the philia that develops between those Who have bared their innermost thoughts to their sisters and brothers In hopes that together all can come to a deeper understanding of reality. No, indeed, this utopia was not to be. Instead the Christians labeled me a pagan And when they were not setting upon the Jews Or feuding with Orestes for political power They turned their murderous eye on me. I did not live to see other scholars driven from the city. I did not live to complete my works on astronomy. I am barely remembered by my fellow men of science. All because I was a woman who voiced her own ideas A woman powerful men listened to and publically admired In other words, in the eyes of Christians, an abomination. I was set upon by a mob of Christians and dragged from my chariot. I was stripped, stoned, dismembered and burned in a church. And so continues the Rule by Brute Force that we can either bow down to Or become martyrs to if we take a public stand for sanity and science In hopes that our example will be remembered and followed by the brave. I often wonder if Richard Dawkins would be as courageous as I If he lived in an age where his derision of religion could get him killed.