Hypatia

   Hypatia was a Greek woman philosopher. She was born in Alexandria about 350 A. D. She became an instructor in the great school there, and is said to have possessed eloquence, as well as rare modesty and beauty. Her classroom was crowded with students over whom her lectures had great influence. In the factions that arose among the early Christians of Alexandria, Hypatia became the victim of a fanatical mob of monks. She was torn from her chariot, dragged to a Christian church, stripped, cut to pieces with oyster shells, and burned piecemeal. Charles Kingsley has made her the heroine of a historical novel, Hypatia.