The film Agora is a special film in that it indicts early Christianity in the 4th century for its rigidity and violence. It describes the early discovery of the pagan philosopher Hypatia that the Earth makes an elliptical orbit around the sun and the (anti-feminist) reactions of Christians towards this special woman. What is the cultural and social importance of this film?
The movie Agora
- Agora is a Spanish historical drama about 5th century Alexandria, released in 2009.
- This film mainly highlights the controversy between religion and science. More precisely: Roman-Egyptian Christian Alexandria versus the science of Neo-Platonism.
- The drama film was directed by Alejandro Amenábar and written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil.
- The film was difficult to distribute at first, probably because of the scenes about the early Christians that are contrary to what the Christian churches want to see.
- The film received a 55 percent ‘rotten tomatoes’ rating.
- The film was kicked out of the Cannes Festival.
- On the other hand, the controversial film became the biggest Spanish box-office success ever.
The story
Hypatia is a female astronomer, mathematician and philosopher of the Greek school. She is the daughter of Theon, the head of the Alexandria Museum. Both are what Christians qualify as pagans.
She teaches in the museum of Alexandria to the future leaders of her city: Orestes, the later Christian-Roman prefect of Alexandria, Synesius, later bishop of Cyrene with the help of her slave Davus. Orestes and Davus are both in love with her.
A tough battle ensues between the Christians and the pagans , a battle that the Christians win thanks to the fact that the Roman emperor Flavius is a Christian.
The pagans are allowed to leave the museum. Hypatia understands that this is the end of the museum and tries to save ‘the most important’ scrolls from destruction . Her slave Davus sides with the Christians.
When he finds her reports, he tries to approach her sexually. She forgives him for this and gives him his freedom from slavery.
Years later, when Orestes was prefect of Alexandria, Hypatia continued to study the movements of the sun and the Earth. She doubts the accuracy of Ptolemy’s system due to the fact that the Earth sometimes appears further away from the sun than at other times of the year. She feels more for the almost forgotten ideas of Aristarchus of Samos.
The Jews meanwhile attack the Christians and stone them. In retaliation, the Christians wage a fierce battle against the Jews and drive them out of Alexandria to the last man.
The leader of the Christians Bishop Cyril believes that Hypatia has too much influence over the prefect Orestes. He tries to make Orestes fall Hypatia in a public ceremony.
Her former student Synesius, who is now bishop of Cyrene, tries to save her and Orestes from the dilemma, but for this Hypatia must become a Christian. Hypatia, who is gradually becoming familiar with Christian ideas, refuses this.
She is captured by Cyril’s militant monks. Davus is able to persuade them to stone her and when they look for stones outside, he strangles her to prevent her from worse suffering.
Did Hypatia really exist?
- Hypatia (born 350–370, † 415) in Egypt is believed to have been the first female known astronomer and mathematician.
- As a neo-Platonic philosopher, she belonged to the mathematical tradition of the Academy of Athens.
- She came from the intellectual school of the third century under Plotinus which encouraged logic and mathematics rather than empirical research.
- Although no original works by her have been preserved, it is believed that she invented the hydrometer and the astrolabe together with her father Theon.
Did Hypatia meet her end as the film described?
Unfortunately, Hypatia’s end was more gruesome than the film indicates. According to tradition, she was skinned alive and then burned. Of course, not much is known about her end: the Christian authorities did not
like to
air the dirty laundry about their misdeeds . Bishop Cyril was later sanctified, so Hypatia’s death was ultimately not his fault. The murder of Hypatia is mainly seen as a political murder rather than a religious one.
What was the teaching of Ptolemy that Hypatia rejected?
Claudius Ptolemy was a Greek astronomer, geographer, mathematician and music theorist who lived in Alexandria from 87 to 150AD. His most important work ‘Great Treatise on Astronomy’, consisting of 13 parts, was written around 137 AD. It provides a complete overview of astronomy in Antiquity. Eight centuries later, this book was translated into Arabic as ‘the Almagest’. The Almagest was the most important astronomical work until the 16th century.
Ptolemy thought that the Earth was at the center of the universe. The sun, planets and stars would move around the earth. (geocentric worldview)
Hypatia assumed that the sun occupied a central place in the solar system and that all planets move around the sun. (the liocentric worldview – helios is the Greek word for sun).
Are the fight scenes in the film between pagans, Jews and Christians based on truth?
Probably, although there are of course not many writings about it anymore: the Christians were just as good at falsifying history as other religious and political groups. The content of these scenes was described by later writers.
The film was first shown to the Vatican for review, which proposed few changes . It can therefore be assumed that the Vatican saw no point in denying the violent scenes or having them rewritten.
How can one deduce that Hypatia made the discoveries in the film?
Hypatia and her father Theon are believed to have discovered the astrolabe.
The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument used to measure the height of the sun or stars and to solve other astronomical and navigational problems. The astrolabe fell into disuse after the 16th century due to the development of the sextant.
The revolutions of the astrolabe were elliptical rather than cyclical. In the film, Hypatia solves the problem of the Earth’s orbit around the sun with the discovery of the elliptical orbit that the Earth describes.
Conclusion
There is no denying that the film Agora is a special film. Not only does the film criticize the early Christians, an extremely difficult item in these times of terrorism that is not directly attributed to Christians , it also gives a prominent place to a pagan female philosopher. Hypatia’s research is extremely interesting to observe, if only to see how she arrives at very basic values using the simplest means.
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