Flow Down Like Silver (Hypatia of Alexandria)

After reading The Secret Magdalene last March, I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer depth of the story she presented to me. Not just the depth of the story, but also the beauty of her language, the solid composition of the book thrilled me. Having read her latest novel, Flow Down Like Silver, Hypatia of Alexandria, I know that The Secret Magdalene was not a one-time high. This lady - I'm referring to the author now - contains gold and I can only hope that she's given the perseverance and the time to share more of her artistic wealth with us.As in The Secret Magdalene gnosis plays a major role in Flow Down Like Silver, although it is not as much on the surface as in Magdalene. Silver relates the story of the last 24 years of the 4th-5th century scientist Hypatia of Alexandria, as told through the eyes of different characters. We learn how Hypatia has grown up, as if she were a son to her father. Being left with only daughters by his wife, who died in childbirth from the third child, he chooses Hypatia, the middle one, to follow in his footsteps as a teacher of mathematics, philosophy, science, music and so on. Her older sister, Lais, is a mysterious and introvert character. She seems to understand life, its meaning or is content with the fact that it just lacks all meaning. There is something acquiescent about her. She and Hypatia love each other very much, as the latter in the beginning of the book says: "my sister, more precious than the beating of my own heart." (2) Her younger sister, Jone, is not loved by her father. In his eyes she caused the death of his wife and for this he ignores her and with that branding her for life. She is the most tragic of the three sisters. One of the main characters in the book, Minkah the Egyptian summarizes: `Hypatia is all mind, Lais all spirit, Jone all bodily emotion.' (40)The novel starts in the year 391. In Roman Egypt the `new' religion, christianity, is on the rise. These christians are raiding the libraries of the city and are burning books that in their eyes are superfluous. Throughout the story it becomes painfully clear that the actions of many so-called christians have nothing whatsoever to do with the intentions of the one they claim to follow: Jesus. Lais is the neutral observer, free of judgment or any urge to evangelize her point of view. But the young Hypatia is furious about the way the christians burn books. Then Lais says this: `What they love is not this life (...), but the one that follows. If you were they: poor, ignorant, suffering, without privilege of any earthly kind, might you too not listen to this new faith which promises so much after death?' At this Hypatia marvels: `My sister is theodidactos; God-taught'. (12/13)This book is filled with allusions to or direct descriptions of alchemy (even the Atalanta Fugiens appears very briefly), Hermes Trismegistus and all that goes up and comes down with gnosis. (The table Hypatia inherits from her mother `made of stone as green as emeralds' might be in fact the Emerald Tablet, that is said to reveal the secret of primordial substance and how life as we know it came into being.) In Magdalene the whole journey towards gnosis, is stronger interwoven into the story. In Silver I find it is more hidden between the lines, although hard to miss for an interested reader. Lais knows gnosis, she intuitively knows THE ALL. Hypatia has to make a long and arduous journey, but at an early age she understands the bliss that surrounds Lais: `I think if I desire anything, I desire this: to know what Lais knows.' (20) Hypatia repeatedly asks herself who she is and what is her contribution to mankind.Occasionally the reader is confronted with the real background of the Christian faith and its rites and symbols with the cults of Mithras, Isis and Osiris and much more that justifies the question of how original the christian faith is. More than once does Hypatia question her contribution or her being: `I am only what I am, a thing of the mind (...) questioning constantly all it sees and all it hears. I believe nothing, not even what my senses assure me is so, for fear that by holding to one belief I lose the possibility of another.' (93) For Hypatia asking questions is a way of life, a way to constantly checking if her reality is still her home. It is the way of the scientist that is continuously seeking proof of what his senses tell him. After a discussion on religion with a christian she realizes: `One who believes is like a lover; he would hear nothing ill of his beloved.' (97) Or later on: `I ask christians: where are your questions? Where are your great doubters, those who lead us all to discovery?' (157) During a visit to Constantinople, Hypatia shows courage by questioning Atticus, the Bishop of this Byzantine capital. As he rambles on about the low place the woman has, Hypatia speaks up. `(...) to hear the ignorant speak out with authority is a great evil. (...) You repeat what you have heard. You question nothing. You expect no one to question you.' (215)Again I underlined very much in this books. Sentences that struck me as pure poetry (`a man whose brain would not threaten a cow' (227)), parts that delivered me insight or that rare shock of recognition. As shown above, there is a lot of questioning about the christian faith. One of the things that I for instance have always wondered about is the strong rules that Islam, or Jewry, or Christianity enforce regarding the human body. The many dietary rules, the cloaking of the female body to extremes, circumcision. Ki Longfellow lets Hypatia say it thus: `If God (...) created the world and all that is in the world, how then can anything made by His Hand be impure?' (110) A very just question.Hypatia has hidden many of the forbidden books, that she saved from the raiding and arsonist christians, in a cave in the desert. After the early death of her beloved sister Lais, her poetry is added to this secret library. Later on Hypatia comes across Gnostic gospels that had lain hidden under an old temple for hundreds of years. This find, with the gospel of Mary Magdalene among them, prompts Hypatia to write her own path to glory: The book of Impossible Truth. Names that we know from Magdalene come forth, like Seth of Damascus. And once again the subjection of women is condemned strongly. `(...) man has come to fear woman's sexual power before which he is helpless, so turns it back on her, making her the one who is helpless.' (232)At the very end of her life - when it has become clear to her that the end of science and therewith of her part in the world of her time is very near - she hides these books in the same cave. (The Nag Hammadi Scrolls that were found in 1945, are located about 350 miles to the south of Alexandria. Wouldn't it be wonderful to believe that there is still a place somewhere near Alexandria, where in a cave are many jars containing not only Gnostic gospels, but also many of the lost books from the ancient library of Alexandria.) It is a long walk through the cave, and she loses her way. Lost in the utter darkness she realizes that this may very well be the end. It is one of the most impressive parts of the novel, filled with highly insightful phrases. Again Hypatia wonders what the meaning of her life is. `What did it serve? (...) All I have done is learn only to learn this one last true thing. I know nothing.' (281) Even though this truth breaks her heart, she gradually accepts this. She undergoes the alchemical process of death and being reborn. `I am snatched away from me and suddenly I fall out of myself, and then I fall into myself - completely.' (282)In this scene she finally finds gnosis. It is one of the most beautiful and pieces of prose I've ever read on the core of gnosis, and coming very close to finally catching this what is beyond words in words nevertheless. The reader who knows, can almost feel the transition.Incredibly beautiful also are the final words of Minkah the Egyptian, when he's on the verge of his death. He is the great love in life of Hypatia and she is his. I'll not repeat them here, for I've quoted more than enough from this superb novel. The best review would be to hand over the book itself and urge the receiver to `please, please, read it'. Ki Longfellow is working on the sequel of The Secret Magdalene. With every book she publishes it becomes more clear to me that she is one of my favourite authors. To all you questioners, searchers and lovers of beauty in words out there: please, please, read Flow down Like Silver, Hypatia of Alexandria!

As a work of historical fiction, I would give this novel 1 star for historical plausibility and 5 stars for fictional writing ... hence the overall 3 star score. (I'm guessing Ki Longfellow might well feel the same way, in reverse order, about my novel, Caesar's Temple ~ The Life and Turbulent Times of Hypatia of Alexandria.) Among historical figures, Hypatia is unique in many ways, not the least of which is that very little is known about her. She is the only woman ever widely recognized as the foremost mathematician of her age (something that says more about male dominated society than female mathematicians), she was the daughter of Theon, last in a long line of Museum Professors that began with Euclid, and [spoiler alert] she was brutally murdered for, through no fault of her own, putting a face on late 4th century Secular Hellenism. From that and little more, both Longfellow and I have, to paraphrase Nathaniel Hawthorne, attempted to restore flesh to long dead bones and attribute character to resurrected personalities. Where we part ways is in attention to historical detail. By representing Theon as the Librarian of Alexandria, Longfellow either doesn't know or doesn't care that the Museum and Library of Alexandria were different institutions. Although (correctly) claiming her to be Greek, Longfellow laces Hypatia's thoughts and remarks with ancient Egyptian mythology -- to the near total exclusion of the usual Olympians. While imagining Bishop Augustine of Hippo to have been a personal acquaintance of Hypatia and frequent visitor to Alexandria can be excused as literary license, having him stop over in Alexandria "on his way" from Rome to Hippo may help to explain why the book's only map is a plan of ancient Alexandria. Finally, inferring the existence of a mother for the historical Archbishop Cyril is something both of us have done. Inventing a mother "who is said to keep virgins, both male and female, in order to watch them deflowered in the most unspeakable ways" strikes me as the kind of excessive overreach that can only bring discredit on a story that deserves a more careful telling.

If I hadn't been reading this for a challenge, I would have given up in the middle. It improved towards the end, but on the whole I found it heavy going. The author gives little sense of the setting in Alexandria, although she does manage to get over the way in which the vibrant intellectual life of the city was being gradually squeezed by Christianity. She shows how the new religion was largely taken over by people with no interest or understanding of the doctrines, but determined not to permit any viewpoint but their own.What I found particularly irritating was the pseudo-archaic language and the self-consciously "beautiful" prose. Other reviewers apparently enjoyed this, but as far as I was concerned, it made the book painful to read.

This book kept me captivated with the story of Hypatia. She was totally believable, as was the depiction of the times in which she lived. Ki Longfellow is a writer who combines good story action with beautiful prose. Other reviewers have said much more in praise of this incredible book.

Interesting history, with some good passages, but pretty boring and lack of consistent plot. Particularly hard the second half and the end

Alexandria, 391: Die junge Hypatia wird Zeugin der Zerstörung der "heidnischen" Bibliothek von Alexandria durch die erstarkenden Christen. Dieses Ereignis wird Hypatias Leben stärker beeinflussen, als sie zunächst glaubt. Hypatia wird gezwungenermaßen das Oberhaupt ihrer Familie und muss für deren Lebensunterhalt sorgen, also wendet sie sich dem Unterrichten zu. Schnell erlangt Hypatia großen Ruhm und großes Ansehen, ihre Unabhängigkeit, ihre Weltsansicht und ihre Intelligenz sind vielen einflussreichen Christen jedoch ein Dorn im Auge...In FLOW DOWN LIKE SILVER zeichnet Ki Longfellow Hypatias Lebensgeschichte bis zu ihrem gewaltsamen Tod im Jahr 415 nach. Hypatia ist eine faszinierende Frau mit einer bewegten Geschichte, für meinen Geschmack schafft es Ki Longfellow aber nicht, mir Hypatia nahe zu bringen, obwohl der Roman in der Ich-Form erzählt wird. Ich konnte während des Lesens einfach keine wirkliche Verbindung zu ihr aufbauen, was meinen Lesegenuss doch etwas gemindert hat. Auch mit dem Stil von FLOW DOWN LIKE SILVER bin ich nicht völlig glücklich. Ich fand einige Passagen doch recht holprig, aber das ist reine Geschmackssache.Neben Hypatia spielen eine Reihe von anderen Figuren eine wichtige Rolle in FLOW DOWN LIKE SILVER, wie zum Beispiel ihre Schwestern, einige ihrer Schüler und der Ägypter Minkah, der ein Mitglied ihres Haushalts wird. Auch Hypatias "Gegenspieler" finden einigen Raum im Roman und sind ansprechend gestaltet.Sehr gut hat mir gefallen, wie Ki Longfellow den Konflikt zwischen den Christen und den Heiden darstellt und auch die Grabenkämpfe innerhalb des Lagers der Christen sind schön geschildert. Die Handlung von FLOW DOWN LIKE SILVER ist kein durchgehendes Ganzes, es werden die wichtigsten Episoden aus Hypatias Leben herausgegriffen und dargestellt.Alles in allem hat mir FLOW DOWN LIKE SILVER trotz meiner Probleme mit der Charakterisierung Hypatias nicht schlecht gefallen. Wer sich für Hypatia interessiert, wird sicherlich seine Freude mit dem Roman haben. Durchaus empfehlenswert!

I loved this book about one of the most amazing women of ancient times. She lived in a mans world and yet be venerated as a philosopher by all seekers of knowledge. For anyone woman seeking knowledge of the feminine wisdom from ancient times - this is a rare treat.