Hypatia and her rag

Some women in the Roman Empire used their period bleed to their advantage. Hypatia (c.350-370 - 415 CE) was a mathematician from Alexandria, Egypt which at the time was part of the Roman empire.

She is said to have had many admirers, though she rebuffed them all as if she got married she would have had to stop being a mathematician. Famously, one particular student who refused to accept her lack of interest had her menstrual rag thrown at him. She is said to have declared:

“You love this, o youth, and there is nothing beautiful about it”

It is said that he was ashamed by the sight and stopped his advances. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Print from the first page of newspaper, The Graphic on 21 January 1893. This image depicts a dramatisation of Charles Kingsley’s 1853 novel “Hypatia; Or, New Foes with an Old Face” at the Haymarket Theatre, london.