A wonderful yet poignant human interest story, of particular relevance if you are both a woman and librarian, is the life of the last great librarian of classical civilisation, Hypatia of Alexandria. This heroic woman’s story, if nothing else, will put the stresses of the current era and your particular working environment into perspective.

A basic biography can be found here.

The views of the opposing sides of the day can be found here.

Hypatia of Alexandria was the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics.

Hypatia was the daughter of the mathematician and philosopher Theon of Alexandria and it is fairly certain that she studied mathematics under the guidance and instruction of her father. It is rather remarkable that Hypatia became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria in about 400 AD. There she lectured on mathematics and philosophy, in particular teaching the philosophy of Neoplatonism. Hypatia based her teachings on those of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, and Iamblichus who was a developer of Neoplatonism around 300 AD.

Plotinus taught that there is an ultimate reality which is beyond the reach of thought or language. The object of life was to aim at this ultimate reality which could never be precisely described. Plotinus stressed that people did not have the mental capacity to fully understand both the ultimate reality itself or the consequences of its existence. Iamblichus distinguished further levels of reality in a hierarchy of levels beneath the ultimate reality. There was a level of reality corresponding to every distinct thought of which the human mind was capable. Hypatia taught these philosophical ideas with a greater scientific emphasis than earlier followers of Neoplatonism. She is described by all commentators as a charismatic teacher…

Tags: last librarian, library of alexandra, hypatia, theon, platonist school at alexandria, neoplatonism, iamblichus, plotinus