Yes, one of the possible sources of Katherine's legend is the "real"
figure of Hypatia, but it isn't clear as yet. One of the interesting
twists in recent research is the likelihood that her legend was invented
in the Latin West and transported to the Greek East, not vice versa as
thought. If that is the case then the Hypatia theory may not hold.
Katherine's story gets muddled up with many other stories, in the Middle
Ages and now. In fact, there is a error in Caroline Bynum's recent book
"The Resurrection of the Body" where she cites part of K of Alexandria's
story (just using "Catherine" as if there were only one) and in her
index says it is Catherine of Siena. I've seen this mistake a few times.
Regards, Terry
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