Sunday, February 14, 2010

Hypatia of Alexandria



Some quotes by Hypatia:

"Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond."

"All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final."

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."

7 comments:

scottsz said...

A recent movie of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora_(film), which I haven't seen yet.

I remember watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos, in the episode 'Who Speaks For Earth', where he mentions her and the great Library.

I recently bought the episodes from iTunes to watch again. There seem to be so many lessons in that terrible moment in history. I haven't been able to distill all of them. It seemed almost an ironic retribution for the Pythagoreans' reign of terror over the Ionians.

Still, all that knowledge lost without so much as a miracle to compensate us. So unfair.

Rob Kuntz said...

Thanks scottsz, And well said. I followed the link and looked for the trailer, but then went to YouTube for the English version. I will be getting the movie. Thanks again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuEhwselE0&feature=related

James said...

One of my favorite historical personages.

Elton said...

One of the things about the Tragedy of the Dark Ages was not only the burning of the Lyceum, but the sacrifice of Hypatia of Alexandria by fanatical Christians.

The Dark Ages was a time when knowledge was at its lowest. The killing of Hypatia symbolized this as all learning became monopolized by those in power.

Although there was a decline in the spreading of knowledge and truth about 200 years before Hypatia as the various colleges of science became dogmatic rather than investigative, the Martyrdom of Hypatia showed how terrible we've fallen.

The Neo-Platonic school along with Superstition became the dominate way of thought through the Dark Ages until the Renaissance for a thousand years.

However, Hypatia managed to sow the seeds of scientific investigation again, bringing about the Italian Renaissance after the first and second waves of Black Death.

As Jesus was sacrificed on a cross by religious fanatics; so was Hypatia sacrificed on an altar for daring to think for herself by religious fanatics.

Rob Kuntz said...

Right on, Elton. It is a repetitive theme in history, in fact, as you note.

Andrew (better known as Drew) said...

Please, let us be more specific with our terms, Elton. Neither "religious" nor even "Catholic" necessarily equates to "Christian". The terms can be - but are not always - synonymous. Hypatia was killed by Catholics and religionists, and there is no reason to believe there were any Christians among them. And no, I will NOT debate the topic here. Catch me elsewhere if you want to discuss it.

Rob Kuntz said...

That's a fair view Bubba; a very fair view. Catholics do not equate to all religions or to all Catholics, for that matter.