This book is dedicated to – HYPATIA
Murdered by a Christian mob in Alexandria, 415AD – much provoked by the inflammatory words of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. (In the same year a Jewish mob had murdered many Christians. Cyril had had the Jews expelled from Alexandria, confiscating their property – did he need their wealth? A saintly type!). Within the Greek culture, Hypatia, was head of the Platonist school in Alexandria (a ‘university’ by today’s definitions – the Greeks never founded universities). She was a charismatic teacher of mathematics, astronomy and philosophy and she was a pagan. She loved her father deeply, a teacher too (‘Professor’) and had learnt much from him. She had no need for a husband, emphatically expressed by her. In 1882 (1467 years later!), the aggressive ‘saint’ Cyril of Alexandria became a ‘doctor’ of the Roman church – he is neither saint nor doctor in the Eastern church.
