This study, part of Oxford's Women in Antiquity series, provides a monograph-length biography of the late fourth-/early fifth-century Alexandrian philosopher Hypatia. While most of the writings about Hypatia in both antiquity and modernity focus on her brutal death at the hands of a Christian mob in 415 ce, W. offers ‘a study of [her] remarkable life and the world in which it unfolded’ (p. 5). This is no small task, as the only works Hypatia authored are mathematical commentaries, and most of her contemporaries do not write extensively about her or her school: aside from the letters of her student, the bishop Synesius of Cyrene, the earliest written accounts of this famous philosopher come from the mid-fifth century, at which point her murder had already overshadowed her life in the memory of Christian and pagan authors alike. W., however, makes use of this source base deftly to construct a detailed and engrossing narrative of Hypatia's life and her place in the tumultuous history of late-antique Alexandria.

This narrative consists of ten chapters, plus a short introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1 sets the scene with a brief sketch of the opposing – yet by no means disconnected – socio-economic worlds of Hypatia's Alexandria: the elite intellectual world in which she lived and taught, and the much larger non-elite world of temporary labourers and craftspeople in which the day-to-day business of the Roman Mediterranean's second-largest city was conducted. Chapters 2 and 3 reconstruct Hypatia's education and early teaching, based primarily on what we know about Alexandrian school life in the fourth century and about girls’ education in antiquity more broadly. Chapter 4 contextualises Hypatia's philosophical school within fourth-century intellectual rivalries between Athens and Alexandria and the momentous destruction of the Serapeum in 392. Chapters 5–7 turn away from current events in Hypatia's time to explore the nature of her school and philosophy, outlining her relationships with students (5), her status as a public philosopher (6) and her distinction in this capacity from other notable fourth-century philosophic women (7). Chapter 8 narrates Hypatia's murder in 415, contextualising this bloody event within Cyril's efforts to solidify his authority after succeeding his uncle Theophilus as bishop of Alexandria in 412. Chapters 9 and 10 then delve into Hypatia's Nachleben among ancient and modern authors, with particular attention to how later authors have seen her murder as a watershed moment marking the end of a pagan/philosophical/Classical antiquity and the beginning of a Christian/anti-intellectual/misogynistic dark age: in the conclusion, W. argues unambiguously against such an interpretation (pp. 154–5).

This is a compelling biography that makes excellent use of the available sources for Hypatia's life and the city in which she taught. While the scant nature of these sources means that scholars can only guess about many of the details of her life, the speculations W. makes are grounded solidly in source material. For instance, the account of Hypatia's education in Chapter 2 relies on the early fourth-century mathematician Pappus of Alexandria's Collectio and evidence from the Byzantine Suda to construct a convincing narrative of how she would likely have learned mathematics and philosophy (closely-related disciplines in ancient education) under her father Theon's guidance. Similarly, the argument in Chapter 3 that Hypatia took over her father's school in the mid-380s in order to allow him to serve in a sort of ‘emeritus professorship’ (p. 39) is plausible, given what we know about Hypatia and Theon from Synesius’ letters.

W. also makes a strong case for viewing Hypatia's murder against the backdrop of Alexandria's different socio-economic worlds, which are outlined in Chapter 1. Throughout the narrative, the reader views Hypatia as a philosopher who, while pagan, offered a form of teaching that bridged confessional differences between Christians and pagans and taught all elites to come together and work for the benefit of their cities. Unlike her Alexandrian rival, the Iamblichan philosopher Olympus, Hypatia espoused a form of Neoplatonism that eschewed theurgy, and she did not engage in any of the violence that contributed to the destruction of the Serapeum in 392. When she got involved in the dispute between Cyril and Orestes, the prefect of Egypt, in 414–415, it was to help Orestes find a peaceful solution for the benefit of all Alexandrians. Yet, as W. rightly observes, the differences between Hypatia's Platonism and Olympus’ would not have been clear to ordinary Christians on the street, many of whom relied on Alexandrian dock work for their income, and depended on the city's bishop in the months when shipping was slow (pp. 114–15). Hypatia's murder in March (a particularly difficult month for the dockworkers) thus highlights the volatile relationship in Alexandria between elites and the rest of the city as much as (if not more than) the relationship between Christian and pagan Alexandrians.

Drawbacks in this biography are minor and do not detract from the study's overall strength. W. rightly emphasises Hypatia's appeal to Alexandria's Christian elite, yet the suggestion that her students ‘could become philosophers and remain Christians’ (p. 50) seems to imply that this was usually not the case. While the late fourth century certainly saw plenty of anxiety over the intersection of Christians and philosophy, many of Hypatia's Christian contemporaries throughout the Mediterranean viewed Christians as the ideal philosophers (as in, for example, the rising body of Christian literature in which ascetic life was referred to as ‘philosophy’). Additionally, the comparison in Chapter 7 of Hypatia with other contemporary female intellectuals could mention (if only briefly) Christians like Macrina, who arguably, as W. remarks of the women surveyed in this chapter, ‘established a philosophical reputation that was described, recognized, and admired by her male contemporaries’ (p. 94). There are also a handful of typographical errors: p. 38, third line from the top is in scriptura continua; p. 52, ‘they were led them’ instead of ‘they were led’; p. 55, ‘does not reflects’ instead of ‘does not reflect’; and pp. 150–1, ‘she would use to she remake’ instead of ‘she would use to remake’.

None of these issues, however, is substantial enough to weaken this study's fundamental value as a masterful biography of Hypatia that emphasises her significance in the turbulent world of late-antique Alexandria in which she lived. W. stresses Hypatia's uniqueness as a woman who practised philosophy in public and held influence in a major late-antique city, without going too far in marking her death as the transition from a tolerant antiquity to a repressive middle age. The scholarship and writing style make this biography accessible to a wide variety of readers interested in Hypatia, from advanced scholars of Late Antiquity to those with little to no prior background knowledge. This book is a welcome contribution to a field traditionally dominated by ‘great men’ narratives.