Who Is Hypatia's Demise In Real Life?

The movie Agora takes place in Alexandria, a city full of knowledge that was founded by Alexander the Great. The main protagonist is named Hypatia, who was based off of a real person. She was a brilliant woman who taught and explored science, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Respected daughter of Theon the scholar, her father sparked her curiosity for questioning the known world. In the film, Hypatia is murdered because she was not a follower of the Christian faith, and was accused for practicing witchcraft. Many believe this is what lead to her demise in real life. However, in actuality “Hypatia was murdered not because she was a pagan, or a dissident Christian, or a Neoplatonist, or a mathematician, or a woman, or a witch… Rather that she was an ally of one political faction seen as a threat by the other, and so was eliminated” according to Mary
Gray in the article “Hypatia of Alexandria”. Unfortunately, there is little-known about the true Hypatia, which allows this film to be very creative in its portrayal of her. Nonetheless, in Agora and real life she demonstrates passion, bravery, persistence, and resilience. By embodying such respectful qualities, Hypatia proves herself as an effective leader. To begin with, one scene that best displays Hypatia’s commitment leadership skills is when she rejects Christianity, thus putting her life in danger. Her close friend, former student, and the representative of imperial Rome in Egypt was the prefect Orestes. Towards the end of the film, Alexandria is beginning to crumble and the Dark Ages have slowly started to arise. Out of his adoration for her, Orestes tries to convince Hypatia to publicly conform to Christianity in order to prevent her execution. In this scene, the two are completely alone and facing one another, creating a very intimate moment. With melancholy in her voice and tears falling from her face, Hypatia tells Orestes she cannot do that because of her life’s commitment to science. She fully knows what the consequences are, yet she chooses to accept her fate because of what she believes in. In this scene she portrays bravery, courage, and sacrifice. She leaves, and Orestes is left standing alone in front of the Capitoline Wolf statue (which would not have existed during the time this film took place), displaying Romulus and Remus feeding from the animal that raised them. The mise-en-scène visualizes the man who could not save Rome, standing in front of Rome’s alleged founder. Therefore, creating a very disappointing tone for the last scene in which the audience sees Orestes. Secondly, Hypatia makes her character leadership skills well-known when confronting her class about what is happening in the streets. Outside the classroom, violent controversy erupts in the streets of Alexandria between Christians, pagans, Jews, etc. In the article “Remembering and Misremembering Hypatia: The Lessons of Agora” the author Donal Viney states, “The lesson of Agora is the danger that dogmatism, blind faith, or mere opinion, poses to civilized life.” In other words, alternative opinions can stand in the way of more important matters at hand, such as the greater truth. The tension eventually makes its way into the classroom and takes a toll on the students. One day, a heated debate arises between the two students Orestes and Synesius. Hypatia interrupts as the voice of reason, and encourages them to remember that in spite of whatever is happening in the streets, they are all brothers. This scene is shot from a high-angle, exhibiting a sense of equality amongst the teacher and the students, woman and men. Had this scene been shot from a low-angle, it may have instead portrayed a sense of hierarchy for the audience. Such an angle may have been inappropriate because inequality among brothers is not what Hypatia is advocating for. Lastly, Hypatia’s further investigation of the heliocentric model of the solar system proposed by Aristarchus proves her capacity leadership skills.
Due to religious objections against heliocentrisicm, Hypatia is no longer able to continue teaching. However, she still continues to explore the heliocentric theory. Shortly before her execution, she discovers that the Earth does indeed revolve around the sun in an elliptic orbit. She declares this hypothesis during a conversation with Orestes about astronomy. She is feeling down on herself because she feels as though all her work has led her to nothing, when suddenly she has an epiphany that the Earth’s orbit may in fact be elliptical rather than circular. Orestes smiles as Hypatia becomes overwhelmed with excitement, and says she must start rethinking everything she had previously worked on. This refreshing scene portrays one of Hypatia’s happiest moments in the entire film. Starting anew and reinterpreting previous discoveries is truly what she lives for. All in all, this scene exemplifies her passion and capacity as an early leader in the scientific
community. In conclusion, when considering Hypatia’s commitment, character, and capacity leadership skills, they prove her as an effective rather than ineffective leader. An ineffective leader would not have taken the same approach to situations that Hypatia did. She conquered conflictions head-on, without fear or hesitation. A final note to add is that Hypatia was a woman. Women were not respected during this time, and the city of Alexandria generally met Hypatia with opened ears, hearts, and minds. “Hypatia enjoyed independence, freedom of thought, respect, and achievement to which anyone might aspire” as said by Gray in “Hypatia of Alexandria”, which is how the director Amenábar truthfully portrays her in his film Agora.