Alexandria 391 CE hippaa watches as the serapium prepares for Siege alexandrian pagans have built barricades to cut off the Steep narrow steps at its entrance now there they stand defending the sixth Century old pillars and galleries with stones and clubs the problem had begun when Bishop theophilis had discovered a secret Pagan Temple still in operation he raided the building defiling it by carrying its sacred secret images out for all to see and in Anger the city's pagan have now seized Christian hostages and fortified this Great temple rumors are that the hostages are being beaten and
forced to sacrifice to pagan gods Christian mobs furious at the action are retaliating by stealing and smashing God images displayed outside other Pagan homes among the leadership in the serapium is a group of neoplatonist philosophers and they're the ones that receive the messenger from Bishop Theophilus informing them that the governor is offering them a deal leave the serapium and they will be pardoned otherwise they'll be executed as Rebels the Pagan Defenders surrender and the soldiers enter the serapium they not only destroy its art and its Idols they pull the very walls down despite being a
neoplatonist pagan hippaa doesn't condemn this action for she is playing a much subtler [Music] game thanks so much to brilliant for continuing to support our passion for lifelong learning HIPAA lived during a a time of massive religious and cultural change in the Roman Empire born only a few decades after Constantine had become the first emperor to convert to Christianity it was a time when paganism was in Decline both naturally and due to legislation in fact Emperor theodocious I first the ruler for most of hipaa's life and The Last Emperor to rule both East and West
was a devout Christian and famous for suppressing paganism now whether he deserves that reputation is complicated though it is true that theodosius ensured that neglected laws against Pagan sacrifices and divination were enforced and that he took Pagan celebrations off of the calendar of public holidays but in his early Reign he also courted the support of pagan political factions and appointed pagans to high offices though he tried to ban worship at Pagan temples he also broadly tried to preserve them rather than destroy them and it's largely believed that his anti-pagan laws were only enforced in cities
in fact he seems to have been far more zealous about pers uting the Christians he considered Heretics that did not mean his Reign was a safe time to be a pagan though outbreaks of violence between Christians and pagans had been going on for decades and some local Bishops used his legal codes to go after Pagan populations and Sack religious structures in other words how safe it was to be a pagan really depended on who your local Bishop was their attitude toward religious coexistence and how prone the population of your Province was towards sectarian violence because
Christian communities weren't monoliths and in fact now might be a good time to remind us all that people aren't monol and despite what happened at the serum in 391 in general it appears Bishop theopus was a moderate on paganism or at least certain types of it and we know that particularly because he seems to have favored the woman this series is named after HIPAA during his tenure as Bishop he apparently helped introduce her to the councils and organizations that helped run the city some of which she joined while she didn't hold official positions as far
as we know hia was a figure who would be brought in for advice even by the governor and Bishops who were her former students and while female advisers were not unheard of in the ancient world where priestesses and oracles could hold a lot of power it was still unusual plus well it might seem strange that a bishop who was attacking neoplatonist philosophers actually counted hiaa another neoplatonist as an adviser there's a very good reason for that see as much as Christians were not a monolith neither were pagans because again people aren't monoliths sorry you get
the idea HIPAA and her father were neoplatonists but they were from the classical school of it whereas the neoplatonists at the serapium were from a more recent offshoot that was more concerned with ritual God images and Divination in other words all of the things that the Christians wanted to wipe out HIPAA brand of neoplatonism by contrast well you know what let's just go to the chart of the neoplatonist universe shall we wheel that thing out let's go okay so up here is the one it's an intangible Universal Force creating and binding everything then this below
it here is the intellect it's also intangible but is more conceptual it's intelligence the life of the mind but we are still on a galactic level here then below that is the soul this is the aspect of the one that can interact with the physical world and shards of it are broken off and trapped into human bodies so if you live a life of intellectual Pursuits philosophy ethical living and don't focus on the Mortal shell you could then connect more with the intellect and eventually at death rejoin the one so like there was no Zeus
or Idols or killing sheep to read their entrails kind of thing in fact if someone described this to you you might not even think of it as paganism which is exactly the point neoplatonism as HIPAA practiced it did not directly contradict Christianity and if you squinted and turned your head just a a little bit you could kind of argue that the one was the Christian God they also shared certain beliefs such as the idea that the body was corrupt while the soul was sacred remember last week when HIPAA waved her sanitary rag at an admirer
to drive him off well one interpretation of that event is that she was reminding him that all of our human bodies are corrupt and that he was forgetting his studies of the infinite intellect by lusting after a temporary mortal shell and Christians could respect that in fact it's like that part of the reason HIPAA was so highly regarded was due to her lifelong vow of Chastity both Christianity and helenistic paganism contained traditions of women who declined marriage and children nuns in Christianity vestile virgins and Oracles in paganism which supposedly helped give them special insights and
spiritual power in other words HIPAA was easy to accept despite Changing Times indeed it's unclear whether she and her father would have even been that upset with their co-religionists being attacked her of neoplatonism were bitter Rivals with the newer sects and it could be argued she might not have even considered them neoplatonists that's not to say that everything in Alexandria was going great for everyone though everyday life there was generally defined by peaceful coexistence sure but outbreaks of violence like the one that led to the standoff at the serapium could happen at any moment there
were sporadic street fights mob violence and vandalism of religious sites that might be triggered by anything from a slight by a political figure to even an unfounded rumor usually this violence occurred between the Christian and helenistic Pagan citizens but the city's large Jewish quarter could also become the victim or perpetrator of religious attacks however we can't look at this totally through religion because these communities were also distinct political blocks that politicians or Bishops would try to win over in their attempts to influence the city meaning religious violence could be political in nature and vice versa
and this was part of what made hiaa such a valued member of the higher echelons of alexandrian society because as a figure respected by everyone who taught both Christians and pagans and who was known for intelligence virtue wisdom and Chastity she could serve as a bridge between communities after all who could dislike her she was a renowned scholar beloved by her students Whose advice was respected by the city's highest while she also gave lectures to the city's lowest well you know there was one guy Bishop theophilis had a nephew sirel this dude followed his uncle
everywhere being groomed to serve as a successor to the office and he paid especially close attention it seemed when his uncle LED an army of both military troops and religious faithful on an expedition to attack a sect of monks he considered Heretics yeah this was the kind of Bishop sirel wanted to be one that fused civil and religious power to pursue his enemies plus he was not so moderate as his uncle when it came to pagans yet no one took him seriously that is until the year 412 when theophilis suddenly died though sirel was known
to be Theophilus successor turned out the bishop had never officially named him so and that gave license to political factions that disliked cill to support a rival candidate archdeacon Timothy for 3 Days supporters of sirel and Timothy just brawled in the streets with these City's Pagan and Jewish political blocks throwing their support behind Timothy in the end sirel won out taking up his uncle's status as patriarch bishop and and his significant political power and it's said that he vowed to turn that power on the Jews and pagans who had supported his rival a path that
would lead him on a violent collision course with the newly appointed Roman governor aristes and his close Ally HIPAA of Alexandria now as we mentioned before hipa was someone who truly believed in educating everyone and that's actually something that's very fortun is for us right now because today we get to tell you all about another group who has the same Mission brilliant now something I just love about y'all in the extra history Community is that so many of you are passionate lifelong learners but I also know it's hard to find the time to better your
brain well luckily brilliant was built for that letting you learn on the go or whenever you have time about topics like science mathematics and Engineering it's sort of like anti-d Doom scrolling you know it actually makes you feel good and I think brilliant is super engaging due to their first principles approach with interactive lessons designed to build up your critical thinking skills through problem solving not just memorization which works way better for me now in honor of HIPAA over the last few weeks I've been brushing up on some classical mathematics in this case geometry and
in around 15 minutes a day their courses have taught me just way more that I can actually retain than any other way I've tried learning this stuff in the past so if that sounds up your alley and if you're watching our Channel I feel like it probably does you can try everything brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 Days by visiting brilliant.org extra history or by clicking the link in the description plus that way you'll get 20% off an annual premium subscription destion heck yeah so to become more brilliant click here and
then once you've devoured some courses check out another of our history videos here the biggest being thanks to Angela valenciana araly games Dominic valenciana Hunter Z iler Izzy coin Joseph blim and kuya Koy for being the best legendary patrons
