Hypatia · Chapter
XIV: The Rocks of the Sirens explained
Four months have passed since Philammon began his studies under Hypatia.
What happens
Four months have passed since Philammon began his studies under Hypatia. He has transformed from a robust desert lad into a pale, thoughtful student, deeply immersed in Greek philosophy and mathematics. A pure and passionate friendship has developed between Hypatia and Philammon, with her acting as a motherly mentor guiding his intellectual and spiritual development. Philammon has become devoted to her, finding in her a new home for his heart. He has gradually drifted away from his Christian faith, ceasing to attend church and feeling disconnected from the Christian community. Hypatia, in turn, dreams of using Philammon as a vessel for her own hopes of restoring the old gods, imagining him as a future apostle for her cause. Meanwhile, Philammon's host, Eudaimon, supports him selflessly, refusing rent and providing for his needs, believing in his future success as a sophist.
Themes in this chapter
Philosophy vs. Faith
Philammon's immersion in Greek philosophy and mathematics leads him away from his Christian faith, highlighting the tension between reason and religious belief.
Innocence and Disillusionment
Philammon's initial fiery devotion to his new life and mentor gradually fades into a weary, thoughtful state, suggesting a loss of innocence as he becomes more learned and complex.
Love and Redemption
The pure and passionate friendship between Hypatia and Philammon is described as a sacred bond, offering Philammon a new home for his heart and a sense of purpose.
Characters to notice
- Philammon
Now a pale and thoughtful student, deeply devoted to Hypatia and immersed in Greek thought, he has drifted from his Christian faith and feels disconnected from his past life at the Laura.
- Hypatia
Acts as a motherly mentor to Philammon, guiding his studies and dreaming of using him to further her cause of restoring the old gods. She feels a growing self-satisfaction as she watches his transformation.
- Eudaimon
Philammon's magnanimous host, who supports him selflessly, refusing rent and providing for his needs, believing in his future success as a sophist.
- Theon
Hypatia's father, who gives Philammon a place in the library as one of his pupils, where he is employed in transcribing and studying.
Key passages
“The robust and fiery desert-lad was now metamorphosed into the pale and thoughtful student, oppressed with the weight of careful thought and weary memory.”
Philammon has changed from a vigorous, passionate young man from the desert into a pale, contemplative student burdened by deep thinking and tired memories.
Describes Philammon's transformation over the four months of study.
“He felt that they, and even more than they, those flowery and bombastic pulpit rhetoricians, who were paid for their sermons by the clapping and cheering of the congregation, were not thinking of, longing after, the same things as himself.”
He felt that the Christians, especially the ornate and pompous preachers who were paid with applause, were not concerned with the same spiritual matters as he was.
Explains Philammon's growing alienation from the Christian community.
“After the manner of women, she crowned him, in her own imagination, with all powers and excellences which she would have wished him to possess, as well as with those which he actually manifested, till Philammon would have been as much astonished as self-glorified could he have seen the idealised caricature of himself which the sweet enthusiast had painted for her private enjoyment.”
Hypatia, as women often do, imagined Philammon as having all the virtues she desired in him, creating an idealized version of him that he himself would not recognize.
Shows Hypatia's self-deception and her hopes for Philammon.