Who Is Hypatia's Demise In Real Life?

The movie Agora takes place in Alexandria, a city full of knowledge that was founded by Alexander the Great. The main protagonist is named Hypatia, who was based off of a real person. She was a brilliant woman who taught and explored science, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Respected daughter of Theon the scholar, her father sparked her curiosity for questioning the known world. In the film, Hypatia is murdered because she was not a follower of the Christian faith, and was accused for practicing witchcraft. Many believe this is what lead to her demise in real life. However, in actuality “Hypatia was murdered not because she was a pagan, or a dissident Christian, or a Neoplatonist, or a mathematician, or a woman, or a witch… Rather that she was an ally of one political faction seen as a threat by the other, and so was eliminated” according to Mary
Due to religious objections against heliocentrisicm, Hypatia is no longer able to continue teaching. However, she still continues to explore the heliocentric theory. Shortly before her execution, she discovers that the Earth does indeed revolve around the sun in an elliptic orbit. She declares this hypothesis during a conversation with Orestes about astronomy. She is feeling down on herself because she feels as though all her work has led her to nothing, when suddenly she has an epiphany that the Earth’s orbit may in fact be elliptical rather than circular. Orestes smiles as Hypatia becomes overwhelmed with excitement, and says she must start rethinking everything she had previously worked on. This refreshing scene portrays one of Hypatia’s happiest moments in the entire film. Starting anew and reinterpreting previous discoveries is truly what she lives for. All in all, this scene exemplifies her passion and capacity as an early leader in the scientific