A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.
Alexandria, 391 AD: Hypatia teaches astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Her student Orestes is in love with her, as is Davus, her personal slave. As the city's Christians, led by Ammonius and Cyril, gain political power, the institutions of learning may crumble along with the governance of slavery. Jump ahead 20 years: Orestes, the city's prefect, has an uneasy peace with the Christians, led by Cyril. A group from the newly empowered Christians has now taken to enforce their cultural hegemony zealously; first they see the Jews as their obstacle, then nonbelievers. Hypatia has no interest in faith; she's concerned about the movement of celestial bodies and "the brotherhood of all". Although her former slave doesn't see it that way.Written by
<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Some days, shooting had to pause for church bells, which had rung at noon for decades. See more »
Goofs
Images of earth from space show twinkling stars. Stars twinkle because their light is disrupted as it passes through the atmosphere. Stars seen from space should not twinkle. See more »
Quotes
Hypatia:
Ever since Plato, all of them - Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Ptolemy - they have all, all, all tried to reconcile their observations with circular orbits. But what if another shape is hiding in the heavens?
Davus:
Another shape? Lady, there is no shape more pure than the circle; you taught us that.
Hypatia:
I know, I know, but suppose - just suppose! - the purity of the circle has blinded us from seeing anything beyond it! I must begin all over with new eyes. I must rethink everything!... What if we dared to look at...
See more »
a really engaging film looking at the clash of Christians & Pagans in 4th Century Roman AD. The loss of ancient knowledge and destruction by ignorant violent mobs Hypatia, a female mathematician, philosopher and astronomer in 4th century AD Roman Egypt - a most interesting historical character. & the important of tolerance and asking questions, the pursuit of knowledge. beautifully shot film as well, a window of a lost society. I love Ancient History & was nice to see it brought to the screen. just tragic the destruction of ancient knowledge by stupid mobs whipped up by crazy zealots just makes you wonder with the collapse of the Roman empire how much ancient knowledge was destroyed
42 of 52 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
a really engaging film looking at the clash of Christians & Pagans in 4th Century Roman AD. The loss of ancient knowledge and destruction by ignorant violent mobs Hypatia, a female mathematician, philosopher and astronomer in 4th century AD Roman Egypt - a most interesting historical character. & the important of tolerance and asking questions, the pursuit of knowledge. beautifully shot film as well, a window of a lost society. I love Ancient History & was nice to see it brought to the screen. just tragic the destruction of ancient knowledge by stupid mobs whipped up by crazy zealots just makes you wonder with the collapse of the Roman empire how much ancient knowledge was destroyed