Agora

I haven't seen it, just read a review. They've made a movie about Hypatia!

The first time I heard of her was during the tv series Cosmos when Carl Sagan spoke of the Museum and Library of Alexandria. He talked about the volumes housed there and the woman, Hypatia, who was its librarian. With the coming of Christianity, Cyril the bishop of Alexandria took on more temporal power and finally Hypatia died and the Great Library burned. I still remember the cynicism of Sagan's tone when he finished the story with, "Cyril was made a saint."

I went to Saint Catherine's School for Girls. There are two Saints Catherine -- the later one, Saint Catherine of Sienna is well documented. The earlier, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, for whom my school was named, has among her attributes a book. (For those who are curious, her others are the palm of martyrdom, the ring of her mystical marriage to Christ, and the wheel which was her instrument of torture, usually shown broken. Occasionally, the sword with which she was beheaded shows up too.)

She's the Catholic response to Hypatia.