Hypatia: The True Story

by: Ronchey, S.

About this book
This study reconstructs Hypatia?s existential and intellectual life and her modern Nachleben through a reception-oriented and interdisciplinary approach. Unlike previous publications on the subject, Hypatia explores all available ancient and medieval sources as well as the history of the reception of the figure of Hypatia in later history, literature, and arts in order to illuminate the ideological transformations/deformations of her story throughout the centuries and recover “the true story”. The intentionally provocative title relates to the contemporary historiographical notion of “false” or “fake history”, as does the overall conceptual and methodological treatment. Through this reception-oriented approach, this study suggests a new reading of the ancient sources that demonstrates the intrinsically political nature of the murder of Hypatia, caused by the phtonos (violent envy) of the Christian bishop Cyril of Alexandria. This is the first comprehensive treatment of the figure of Hypatia addressed to both academic readers – in Classics, Religious Studies, and Reception Studies – and a learned, non-specialist readership.

Uses a multidisciplinary approach combining textual criticism, reception studies, and history of women
First sustained investigation of the Nachleben of Hypatia in Modernity
Brings to light the political dimension of Hypatia?s murder
Author information
Silvia Ronchey, University of Rome 3, Rome, Italy.

 
Frontmatter
Note of the Author
Preface
Contents
Introduction
PART I: SETTING OUT THE FACTS
1 Once there was a Woman
2 The Destruction of the Serapeum
3 Elegant Insolence
4 The Terrible Patriarch of Alexandria
5 Good Use of Power
6 Treacherous Zeal
7 The Bishop of Nikiu
8 A Three-Handed Game
9 The Intimidation of Orestes
10 Mortal Envy
11 The Cover-Up
PART II: BETRAYING THE FACTS
12 The Glory of Her Own Sex and the Wonder of Ours
13 The Excesses of Fanaticism
14 A Very Beautiful and Well-educated Woman is Torn Asunder
15 From Fielding to Gibbon Passing Through the Shadow of a Donkey
16 The Catholic Wing
17 Refreshing Exceptions
18 Uncontrolled Effects on the Poets
19 New Faces For Old Foes
20 Kulturkampf. Hypatia à la Bismarck
21 Celestial Virgin
22 Miraculous Devotion. Chateaubriand, Péguy and the Flourishing of Feminist Literature
23 Superfluous Heroisms
24 The Force of the Universe
25 A Name, a Mantra
PART III: INTERPRETING THE FACTS
26 May the Witnesses Return to the Court
27 The DNA of the Ancient Tradition
28 Church and State
29 An Age of Anxiety
30 Hypatia in All Her States of Being
31 What Did Hypatia Teach?
32 All Synesius? Mysteries
33 Synesius, Hypatia and Philosophia
34 Women Who Philosophised
35 The Power of Hypatia
36 Dramatis Personae
37 Hypatia?s Sacrifice
38 The Martyrdom of Hypatia
39 A Question of Method
40 The Eminence of Hypatia
Aftershock: And What If…
Bibliography
Index of Names
 

Hypatia: The True Story

by: Ronchey, S.

• ISBN-13: 9783110717570 / 978-3-11-071757-0
• ISBN-03: 3110717573 / 3-11-071757-3
• Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2021