Her death brought an end to the position of Alexandria as the centre of scientific activity in the ancient world. Hypatia was murdered because her humanistic philosoph-ical ideas were resented by the Church.

Hypatia was the daughter of a mathematician in Alexandria. She became the head of a Neoplatonist school of philosophy. She wrote commentaries on the 'Arithmetica' of Diophant and on the astronomical works of Ptolemy.

Learning and science was at that time identified by the early Christians with paganism. Hypatia was murdered by a fanatical mob of monks, which led to the departure of many scholars from Alexandria.