Agora

Cinema Release

Agora is a historical drama set in Alexandria; it focuses on the life of Hypatia, philosopher, astronomer, pagan and martyr. Hypatia was a Neoplatonist who belonged to the mathematical tradition of the Academy of Athens.

Rome was in its last stages and Alexandria was in the grip of a growing crisis, the old pagan ways were dying and being replaced with a new sect which had only just been made legal, Christianity. The Christians were zealots and fanatics and fought the pagans at every turn, profaning their sanctuaries and humiliating them on the streets. When the pagans decide to fight, Emperor Theodosius I pardoned the pagans but issued a decree demanding the Christians be allowed access to the library of Alexandria. Of course this meant only one thing looting and buring.

In a turning point for western history the greatest library of the period was burnt to the ground. It cannot be imagined the knowledge – scientific, philosophy and cultural that was lost. It is an event that should haunt our collective memory forever and should never be forgiven. While Hitler may have held book burnings, Christian fanatics burnt the greatest library ever held. They also destroyed the temples, smashed statues and countless relics and collections.

But this was just the beginning Cyril formed a band of what could be only called terrorists who attacked pagans and Jews leading to the first anti-Semitic pogroms in history. Jews were slaughtered in vast numbers and the rest driven from the city. As Christian law is enforced over the city the Roman representative seems powerless to resist. This is an especially interesting section of the film as it shows the development of Christian anti-semiticism and terrorism at the earliest stages.

Agora is a powerful and moving account of the transition from pagan to Christian culture. Personally I have always seen Hypatia as the turning point from a time when the west was open to science, philosophy and learning to its corruption by monotheistic religious superstition. Many would suggest that Hypatia made great inroads into astronomy and may have even discovered the cycles of the planets and gravity. However since she was so brutally murdered we will never know and such discoveries were made a long time later.

The film certainly takes some liberties with the story including adding a love interest with a slave and having her suffocated and stoned to death rather than skinned alive with potshards and burnt alive but the emotional power of the film cannot be faulted.

I have always felt Hypatia’s story to be one of great significance and one that needed to be told. This is a powerful film which has much resonance today. It reflects clearly on the Christian origins of anti-semiticism and the way in which monotheists of various brands are willing to use violence to achieve their ends. One may wonder if Hypatia and the library of Alexandria continued to flourish and the classical period continued where our state of knowledge would be today. This is a truly significant film which uses the best of CGI to recreate the beauty of Alexandria which is juxtaposed with the violence and terror of fanaticism.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content.

This review will appear in Volume 4 No. 1 of the digital and print edition of Synergy.

We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy. The print and digital editions of Synergy also include a large selection of articles and features not found on the website. If you have a limited download quota you can view the digital edition via the Issuu viewer on the digital edition page.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com