Ronchey, S. “Filosofa e martire: Ipazia tra storia della chiesa e femminismo.” Vicende e figure femminili in Grecia e a Roma. Atti del Convegno di Pesaro. (Pesaro, 28-30 April 1994). Ed. R. Raffaelli. Ancona: Commissione per le Pari Opportunità della Regione Marche, 1995. 449-65.

This paper is divided into three parts.  The first part presents the most relevant details on Hypatia’s life and martyrdom from ancient sources (Suidae lexicon, Hesychius of Miletus, Damascius, Socrates Scholasticus, John of Nikiû).  Originally there were two co-existing versions of Hypatia’s murder: one pagan and one Christian, both present in two variants, one more moderate and the other more radical.  Besides the Christian version of Socrates Scholasticus, the two pagan narratives of Hesychius and Damascius have been handed down mainly through the Suidae lexicon.  The considerations of Western thinkers in the modern era would be based on these, since the Christian version of John of Nikiû was lost and until it was rediscovered in the Ethiopian translation brought to light in late 19th century.

The second section of the paper analyses the enormous fortune Hypatia’s person and circumstances elicited in literature and European thought between the 17th and 19th centuries, despite the divergent views expressed in Protestant and Catholic areas.

The topic of the third section is the murder, the “secular martyrdom” of Hypatia.  Pagan and Christian sources agree in accusing her butcher, the Bishop Cyril, and contribute to the posthumous, Christian transfiguration of the woman.  Recent feminist readings have exalted, but often misunderstood in its deeper significance, an important aspect of Hypatia’s story: her relationship with philosophy. Exegesis of the sources suggests attributing to her priestly charisma, more than speculative originality.  The genre of philosophy she cultivated falls within the framework of the relationship between women and the sacred, according to the concept of the pre-eminence of women in the realm of the supra-rational, a legacy of the spirituality of Late Antiquity.

 

REVIEWS

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