FROM around the late 1970s to the early ‘80s, some names were dropped from the name list in the Afro community locally and at least in the Anglophone nations of Caribbean-North America. African names were sought after, and that has eased but has not faded away. The argument now is that names and Kaftans don’t mean conscious souls and works, though that is true. However, some names beyond the era of the slave trade do embody significant contributions and should be made aware of in the context of nurturing awareness and understanding about what went before. One such is a priestess of the Order of the older African civilization of Khemet, now in the dark days of changing seasons, Hypatia.

The rise of Christian Rome was an age of sinister shadows, where knowledge was destroyed and replaced by faith in the Godmen of the Church. “In the early part of the fifth century of the Christian era, Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, the mathematician, conducted an academy in Alexandria -Khemet. This talented lady gave lectures on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and instructed her students on the works of Apollonius and other geometers. Bishop Cyril decided that such knowledge must be suppressed, and he proceeded to take the necessary steps to achieve that objective, as related in the text of INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS By John G. Jackson.

“ Each day before her academy stood a long train of chariots; her lecture rooms were crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. They came to listen to her discourse on those questions which man, in all ages, has asked, “What am I?”, “Where am I”, What can I know?” Hypatia and Cyril! Philosophy and Bigotry. They can’t exist together. So Cyril felt, and on that feeling, he acted.

Hypatia was assaulted by Cyril’s mob – a mob of many monks- tripped in the street and killed by the club of Peter the reader. See- THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE pgs 55-56 by Prof. John William Draper. The following text of what transpired is not compatible with this column. Thus, Hypatia, in the learned traditions of the high priestesses, lived and was slain in the pursuit of freedom of the mind to question and express alternate views and positions. This is a name that must become familiar, relevant to the defining instruction of what is, and what should be. A holistic study of that era would be ‘THE ARAB INVASION OF EGYPT’ and THE LAST 30 YEARS OF THE ROMAN DOMINIon By Alfred Butler.

The passing age of male names like Barrington, Alfred, Walter, Michael, and the female counterparts like Cheryl, Brenda, Donna and Elizabeth seems to have elapsed and are no longer ready choices for young couples, except in literature. I’ve never met a living Hypatia, and this historical literature is not common reading, and overall, that’s sad. The thing is with a name, what a responsibility it carries. Most of our names in the past emerged out of movies, religion, and, of course, names after a favourite senior relative and even of the characters portrayed by actors. Naming is a private family thing, and in this age, that’s where the discussion begins. No cultic influence can easily prevail. But to conclude the world of Hypatia, we must consider in closing:
Her world was a matriarchal construct, so it was not difficult for her, with her intellectual merits, to develop who she was. On the other hand, the Romans (in the age of Byzantine and before), regardless of adopting Christianity, theirs was a patriarchal military empire and may have envied the influence this woman carried, even as much as the science she lectured on. Thus she may have been an affront to all they stood for, whether pagan or their own construct of this new faith whose original African followers they had persecuted in Cartage, forcing many of them to migrate to West Africa, before Rome itself became Christian.