Υπατία μεταξύ μύθου και ιστορίας

Among the many mythological versions of the figure of Hypatia that have developed throughout history and have changed or distorted it, this paper focuses on the two most recent and most prevalent, now that the myth of Hypatia is no longer elite but widespread: the one presented by history of science studies and the one offered by feminist literature.Regarding the version of Hypatia offered by historians of mathematics, physics and astronomy, this article compares modern hypotheses with ancient sources, demonstrating that the myth of Hypatia as 'Galileo in skirts' is a fallacy: a retrospective projection of the repressive methods of the Catholic Counter-Reformation onto the fifth-century political and ecclesiastical scenario.With reference to the version of Hypatia presented by feminist literature, the article compares and contrasts the Byzantine image of Hypatia and her sisters in philosophy with that of the feminist or postfeminist movement, starting with information obtained from her contemporaries and generally from ancient literature on philosophae mulieres: a succession only of women, depositary of the oral tradition of those divine “secrets” that Synesius, Hypatia’s best known pupil, mentions in Dion when referring to her.As a result, we conclude that Hypatia was unquestionably a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher on the one hand, though not an innovative one; and a priest on the other, in an obscure but no less credible role. An inspired observer of the cosmos and “introducer of the mysteries and orgies of the φιλοσοφία”, a figure not uncommon in fields of knowledge where the perfection of numbers has often been associated with Platonic and neo-Pythagorian mysticism