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She was the daughter of Theon, the last fellow of the Museum of Alexandria, which was adjacent to or included the main Library of Alexandria. Hypatia did not teach in the Museum, but received her pupils in her own private home. TheophilusTheophilus of Alexandria (? 412) the Nicene patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt from 385 to 412, was succeeded by his nephew Cyril of Alexandria. He was patriarch at a time of conflict between the newly dominant Christians and the pagan establishment in Alexan, the patriarch of Alexandria, had destroyed some "pagan" temples in the city in 391Events All non- Christian temples in the Roman Empire are closed Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is urban prefect in Rome, and petitions Theodosius I to re-open the pagan temples. He is opposed by Ambrose King Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo ascends to the th, which may have included the MuseumA museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evi and certainly included the SerapeumThe Serapeum of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt was built by Ptolemy III (reigned ( 246 BC- 222 BC) and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria. By all accounts the Serapeum was the largest and m (a temple and "daughter library" to the Great Library). In 391, Emperor Theodosius had published an edict which prohibited visiting pagan temples, and Christians in the entire Roman Empire had embarked on an intense campaign to destroy pagan places of worship.
Hypatia clearly lived during a power struggle between pagans and tolerant Christians on the one side, and dogmatic Christians who demanded the final destruction of paganism on the other. Hypatia herself was a pagan, but was respected by many Christians, and exalted by some (though by no means all) later Christian authors as a symbol of virtue, often portrayed as a life-long virgin. These later accounts should not be seen as strict historical records, though, as they often contradict each other.
Her contemporary, the Christian historiographer Socrates ScholasticusSocrates Scholasticus was a Greek Christian church historian; born at Constantinople c. Even in ancient times nothing seems to have been known of the life of Socrates except what was gathered from notices in his "Church History. His birth and education ar in his Ecclesiastical History portrays her as a follows:
Some insights into the power struggle of the time are granted by the letters written by Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolomais, to Hypatia, whom he loved and respected as a teacher. In one of them, he complains about dogmatic thinkers: "Their philosophy consists in a very simple formula, that of calling God to witness, as Plato did, whenever they deny anything or whenever they assert anything. A shadow would surpass these men in uttering anything to the point; but their pretensions are extraordinary." In this letter, he also tells Hypatia that "the same men" had accused him for storing copies of "unrevised copies" of books in his library. [1] This indicates that books were rewritten to suit the prevailing Christian dogma, which may also relate to the difficulty of finding accurate contemporary information about Hypatia's life and death.