Hypatia - The woman who proved them wrong.

Hypatia wasn’t just the most respected philosopher in Alexandria—she was the city’s last great light before darkness fell. A woman who mastered mathematics, astronomy, and physics at a time when women weren’t even supposed to speak in public. She didn’t just study the stars. She mapped them. Taught them. Explained them in a way no priest or prophet could refute.

And for that? They killed her.

Why? Because Hypatia did the one thing the patriarchy has never forgiven: she didn’t just contradict it. She made it look stupid.

While the men of her age clung to collapsing empires and bitter dogma, Hypatia dared to live beyond their reach. She chose scholar’s robes over marriage and commanded the respect of senators and students alike. She lectured publicly in the great halls of the Library of Alexandria. Her students came from all religions, all walks of life, to hear her explain the movements of the heavens and the principles of matter.

She didn’t preach. She knew. And real knowledge is a dangerous thing in a world ruled by the stories of men.

She was labelled a pagan. Let’s not pretend we don’t know what that means. "Pagan" didn’t just mean not-Christian. It meant goddess-worshipper. And the new patriarchs of Alexandria couldn’t abide her influence. Bishop Cyril, later sainted (because of course he was), saw her as a threat to his theocratic grip on the city. She became a scapegoat, an embodiment of everything they wanted purged: female intellect, philosophical freedom, science that didn’t bow to scripture.

And so, in 415 CE, during Lent—because the Church has always known how to time its horror for maximum drama—a mob of Christian zealots dragged Hypatia from her chariot. They stripped her naked. They flayed her alive with broken pottery. Then they tore her body to pieces and burned what was left.

Because nothing terrifies fundamentalism more than a woman who knows what she’s talking about.

Here we are, over 1600 years later, in a world where wars are being fought over stories of Bronze Age birthright claims, and men in tech think they’re building the future because they can code. Where billionaires believe they are titans because they buy companies and launch rockets. And AI bros repackage fascism as 'logic,' convincing themselves they’re rational gods.

They’re not titans or gods. They’re idiots. They’re trying to build a future whilst perpetuating the biggest mistake humanity ever made—removing women from positions of power, denying them an education, and treating them as little more than breeding stock.

How do we fight them? In the same way Hypatia did—by knowing our stuff, using our voices, and telling our truth. Together.

If you want to take them on head to head - join our Hypatia Circle. The invite's on the home page.