Fourth century, neoplatonist philosopher and martyr, Hypatia of Alexandria is the subject of a movie just premiered at Cannes called 'Agora'.

Starring Rachel Weisz, who told reporters that she did not use a body double for the nude scenes, it promises philosophical content on the nature of the universe, as well as stonings and sword fights, as Hypatia struggles to save some ancient texts against the advance of the Christians.

Hypatia was a brilliant figure in history, some say the last of the great ancient philosophers. Her father was the head of Alexandria's famous Mouseion, she went to Athens to learn Plato and Aristotle, excelled at the mathematical sciences, and upon her return became head of Plato's Academy in Alexandria.

She commanded popular appeal, and that brought her trouble as the bishops of Alexandria turned against ancient philosophy. Bishop Cyril was especially brutal: he kept a private army of shock-troops. Then in March 422 CE, Hypatia fell foul of a mob. The Christian, Socrates Scholasticus, a near-contemporary chronicler, wrote:

‘Some of them therefore, hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal, whose ringleader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home, and dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them.’

This account is usually interpreted as meaning she was flayed alive with oyster shells.

The incident went down in the annals as demonstrating the new religion at its worst. It even featured in Carl Sagan's famous TV series 'Cosmos', when he commented:

‘It is as if the entire civilization had undergone some self-inflicted brain surgery, so that most of its memories, discoveries, ideas and passions were irrevocably wiped out.’

Sagan massively overstated his case: he plays into the myth that the rise of Christianity initiated a dark age that was to last until the Renaissance. Hypatia herself was as admired by Christians as by pagans, and the elite of both communities studied together. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that she met a particularly bloody end.