Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Remembering And Misremembering Hypatia: The Lessons Of Agora, Donald W. Viney

Faculty Submissions

The film Agora tells a somewhat fictionalized version of the story of Hypatia of Alexandria (d. 415). I raise and attempt to answer the question whether it is good historical fiction. After summarizing what is known from the historical record about Hypatia, my answer to the question is a qualified affirmative. I note the various historical details that the film preserves. The liberties that the film takes with her story are, by turns, problematic (e.g. reinforcing the view of a fundamental conflict between reason and faith), enlightening (e.g. in the introduction of the fictional character of Davus), unfair (e.g. in …