It was March, 415 CE. Egypt, once the crown jewel of learning, the arts, and science, was a waning culture. Strife and dissent were everywhere.

This did not happen overnight. Egypt had become part of the seemingly ever-expanding Roman Empire some time ago. Although this had taken place by force, Egypt prospered for a long time under Roman rule. But, as the rest of the Roman Empire gradually moved toward decline, so had Egypt.

The divisions in Egypt were more acute than in most other regions of the Empire. Jews and Christians constantly bickered over just about any little thing, intentionally provoking each other, causing riots in the streets and damage to ancient structures everywhere.

Hypatia herself was of Greek ancestry, just as those who still ruled were. This had been the case since the time of Alexander the Great. She was a follower of the philosophy we call “Neoplatonism”. What little survives of her writings indicates that she held no particularly strong religious views (although she was a Pagan) other than that espoused by her philosophy. And she was neither Christian nor Jewish religiously, so that both religious groups held her in suspicion. Because she delved into mathematics and the sciences, especially astronomy, she was seen by many as being a witch. For many in that day in time, there was really no difference between astronomy and astrology. That she also taught these subjects to others made her even more of a target of contempt among those who could not understand any of it.

This is not to say that all Christians and Jews hated her or saw her as suspect. She had such students, who apparently loved her. And even prominent leaders in her city of Alexandria accepted her.

But this was not to continue. A series of popular uprisings and massacres somehow caused Hypatia to become the focus of those with hatred in their hearts. Perhaps it was partly because she would lecture openly in the streets at times, drawing crowds.

Regardless of the circumstances, on a sad day in March of 415, a mob of Christian zealots came upon her carriage as she was on her way home, and drug her from it. Either she got away and ran into a building, or they drug her into it – the sources are not certain. The building had formerly been a Pagan temple, since converted to a Christian Church. There, in front of the Christian altar, they stripped her and cut her flesh with seashells! She was dismembered by the mob, taken outside of the city walls, and burned along with as many of her writings as the mob could get ahold of!

Martyrs often become symbols for future generations. Hypatia did this in her death, just as others had done before her. Many Neoplatonists afterward saw her as a symbol of opposition to Christianity. During the Enlightenment she became a symbol of opposition to Catholicism. But, of course, she was also co-opted by Christians too, as in so many other cases, as part of the basis for the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

It still took a few hundred years for the Roman Empire to completely decline and fall. But the trajectory never improved in the meantime. As they say, it was “all downhill” from here. Today, we in the USA face a stark reality that many refuse to acknowledge. We are an empire in decline. All of the signs are there. The leadership of this country claim that they are making us “great again”. They seem set upon expansion, like the ancient empires. But expansion is not really equivalent to greatness. Not while society is falling apart within. Not while military-style thugs function in a rampant manner in our streets as the mobs did in ancient Alexandria, killing innocent people. Not while our government will openly – immediately – vilify the victim of such military-style mobs in an effort to save face. Not while educational institutions are threatened in every possible way because they don’t teach subjects in a Christian enough manner. Not while the news media is forced to become little more than subservient to the regime!

When a person is murdered by a mob in the name of the regime and its objectives, it is a turning-point. That person becomes a martyr for a greater cause whether the regime likes it or not.

Renee Good is the new Hypatia.