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Philosophy / Ancient

Hypatia

360 — 415希帕提婭

4th-century Alexandrian astronomer and mathematician

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Born360
BirthplaceAlexandria
Fieldsmathematician, philosopher, astronomer
01 / A LIFE IN CONTEXT

The story, in brief.

Hypatia was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, at that time in the province of Egypt and a major city of the Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was a prominent thinker who taught subjects including philosophy and astronomy, and in her lifetime was renowned as a great teacher and a wise counselor. Not the only fourth century Alexandrian female mathematician, Hypatia was preceded by Pandrosion. However, Hypatia is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. She wrote a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica, which may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus's original text, and another commentary on Apollonius of Perga's treatise on conic sections, which has not survived. Many modern scholars also believe that Hypatia may have edited the surviving text of Ptolemy's Almagest, based on the title of her father Theon's commentary on Book III of the Almagest.

Introduction from Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full biography ↗

02 / THROUGH THE YEARS

A life in milestones.

Selected records from Wikidata. Ages are approximate; “c.” marks uncertain dates. This is a starting point for exploration, not a complete life history.

This edition has life dates for Hypatia; more sourced milestones are still to be added.

  1. 360
    Life

    Born in Alexandria

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  2. 415~ age 55

Behind this profile

Sources retrieved 2026-11-01. Dates and milestones: Wikidata contributors, CC0 ↗. Biographical introduction: Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0. Ancient dates and traditional biographies may be disputed; consult the linked records.