STUDY FOR HYPATIA AT THE SERAPEION

Female nude placed behind another female figure in a special costume and headdress. In the background a yellow curtain and an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling.
At the beginning of the 4th century AD, in Alexandria, Egypt, Hypatia, daughter of the philosopher Theon and a pagan philosopher herself, was hated by the various early Christian communities that were already beginning to occupy positions of power in the eastern part of the empire. She gave her lessons in the temple of Serapis, which also served as a library containing many precious ancient texts. Is Hypatia perhaps asking the priestess behind her to officiate a rite in the darkness of the temple to ward off the foreseen destructive violence of the Christian fundamentalists? The latter will set fire to the temple of Serapis, its library and will horribly torture Hypatia until her death. S.B.