The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume 4

1778

De Beer Ec 1776 G

Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell

Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, part of the Roman Empire, in around 370AD. She was a Neoplatonist and pagan, and taught mathematics and philosophy, mainly to Christian students. Hypatia wrote several commentaries on mathematical works during her career, one of which was an edited version of Claudius Ptolemy’s Almagest. Here, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall outlines Hypatia’s popularity, and how people ‘most illustrious for their rank or merit were impatient to visit the female philosopher’. Highly respected for her intellect, she acted as counsel to various politicos in Alexandria, something that would ultimately lead to her murder by an irate Christian mob. Hypatia was the ‘first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics.’