Hypatia

Ronchey sets out to reconstruct the life and thinking of Hypatia and the afterlife (Nachleben) her image has had in the centuries since. Rather than treating her only as a historical figure, the study follows how she has been received over time, drawing on several disciplines to do so.

Unlike earlier work on the subject, the author examines the full range of surviving ancient and medieval sources, alongside the ways Hypatia has appeared in later historical writing, literature and the visual arts. The aim is to show how ideological shifts have reshaped her story across the centuries, and to recover what actually happened.

The provocative title is deliberate. It engages with current debates about invented or counterfeit history, and that concern shapes both the book's concepts and its method. Reading the ancient material through this reception-focused lens, Ronchey argues that Hypatia's murder was political at its core, driven by the violent envy (phthonos) of Cyril, the Christian bishop of Alexandria.

The book is intended for scholars in classics, religious studies and reception studies, as well as for educated readers without specialist training. It is presented as the first comprehensive study of Hypatia written for both audiences.