Andrea Rapp asked if Hypatia, keeper of the ancient library at
Alexandria, Egypt, was Jewish.
Sources on the Internet describe Hypatia as being a pagan, the daughter
of Theon, author of Theon's Commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest.
See "The Primary Sources for the Life and Work of Hypatia of Alexandria"
by Michael A. B. Deakin (History of Mathematics Paper 63, August 1995,
Mathematics Department, Monash University, Clayton 3168, Australia)
http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/primary-sources.html
A Google search reveals many references to Hypatia, including some
referring to her as a pagan.
See, e.g., "Hypatia" by Ginny Adair, Class of 1998 (Agnes Scott
College), and sources cited there, including
http://www.maa.org/pubs/Calc_articles/ma055.pdf
As well as
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020113.html
http://cosmopolis.com/people/hypatia.html
http://www.cosmopolis.com/alexandria/hypatia-bio-john.html
http://poly.polyamory.org/~howard/Hypatia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_of_Alexandria
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1995/95.07.07.html
http://www.britannica.com/eb/print?eu=42725
Be well!
Joseph I. Lauer
Brooklyn, New York
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