Hypatia

Hypatia of Alexandria, daughter and pupil of the philosopher Theon, was said to have been the head of the Neoplatonic school of Plotinus. At any rate her learning, virtue, and beauty drew numbers to her lectures. As an ardent opponent of Christianity, and suspected of influencing the prefect of Alexandria against Cyril, the archbishop, she became hateful to the monks, and was dragged by a rabble of them from a street into a church and torn to pieces (415). She is the subject of a historical novel by Charles Kingsley.