Many characters in this film are worth analyzing, and it is worth noting that in the storm of religious persecution presented in this film, these characters cannot escape their connection with Christianity. Shows the tension of religious persecution. Among them, the role of Davus is the most complicated. He is not entirely a bystander, but is the most suitable role to reflect or even criticize religion in this film.
Bishop Cyril of Alexandria, Parabalani ("Holy Warrior") represented by Ammonius, Bishop Synesius of Cyrene, etc. are originally Christian characters, but there are differences between them: Cyril is a person who is good at using authority to exert means and desires to be in power. Insidious hypocrites, Parabalani and especially Ammonius are extremely fanatical, murderous Christians, and the rest of the incited Christians are not much better; only Synesius is a moderate Christian, but his beliefs make him unable to openly confront him Cyril and others supported his former teachers and classmates. In his opinion, God always comes first.
Among the officials of the Admiralty's House, Admiral Orestes recently converted and did not truly believe in Christianity, but under the pressure of Cyril and the persuasion of Synesius, he finally made a powerless compromise, and persuaded Hypatia to convert to Christianity as well. He was originally a teenager who dared to question and woo in public, but after entering politics, he became more and more pragmatic and cowardly. Black officials are Christians, and their positions show that they have always been partial to Christians. Some officials in the Admiral's Mansion had to kneel before Cyril and convert to Christianity under Cyril's coercion. In this way, Christianity took full control of Alexander's power.
However, at this time, only Hypatia did not give in, even in the face of Synesius' sarcasm and Orestes' pleading not to change her beliefs, because what she believed in was philosophy, and philosophy made her doubtful. Before and after the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, she worked hard to protect her students and salvage books; she angrily complained to the Senate when she witnessed the massacre of Jews by Christians. It can be said that she was the only clear stream in Alexandria, but she was such a clear stream that eventually became a victim of Christian religious persecution and power seizure. She looks like the crucified Christ when she is led by Parabani to the temple/church to be tortured, and the Christians look like the Jews they condemn, and the way they kill Hypatia is heinous (the film does it anyway) Harmonious), even more so than the Jews who killed Jesus. This is a huge irony.
Finally, let's talk about the most complex character in the film, Davus. He doesn't have many lines, and there are many scenes watching silently. He was originally a slave of the Hypatia family, and silently loved the hostess Hypatia. For this reason, he listened to the class more seriously than his classmates, and even made a Ptolemy celestial model. He was a kind-hearted young man willing to lie and punish the maid. However, he was still haunted by his slave status (especially since Hypatia's words demeaned slaves) and was drawn into the Church of Christ when he listened to Ammonius sermons out of curiosity. Seeing the poor in the church, although he hesitated, he distributed the bread to the poor. Even after he learned to pray, it was Hypatia that he prayed not to promise to marry Orestes.
However, his three views collapsed in the destruction of the library. Theon's slaves shouted "I'm a Christian!" during the turmoil and beat Theon with one blow. This actually shows the general psychology of domestic slaves like Davus from the side. Davus was staying in the library at the time, and the director seems to have intended him to explode when Christians swarmed to destroy the library. He was sluggish in Hypatia and the students were rescuing the library, maybe his heart was beginning to shake. When the crowd retreated, he involuntarily took up a sword and waited alone for the arrival of the Christians. But he didn't confront the Christians, and he didn't get together, but watched how the thugs were wreaking havoc on him, until Ammonius called him "Slave! Come and help me take down this statue!" The harsh "slave" finally made the He vented his anger, joined the rabid mob, and even smashed his own Ptolemaic celestial model with his own hands.
But his conscience is still alive, and when he returns home with his sword, he begins to insult Hypatia, then feels his own despicableness and betrayal, so he falls on his knees and weeps bitterly. Hypatia forgave him and set him free. He has since joined Parabalani, has since become unshaven, and that good Davus is gone forever. Although he still looked up at the stars, he stopped thinking about astronomy and left the question to God. He took part in the slaughter of the Jews, saw Hypatia in the chaos, his conscience was condemned (the camera especially went to the bloody sword in his hand), so he questioned Ammonius by the burning pile of Jewish corpses: "If we do wrong What should I do? Didn't Christ forgive the Jews on the cross? I was forgiven by one person before, but now I can't forgive others." Ammonius said without hesitation: "Forgiveness belongs to God, and we have what we owe. God gave us the opportunity to kill these Jews." A foolish, superstitious Christian beside Ammonius also threatened Davus: "Do you dare to compare yourself to God?" This is a great irony: in the name of God Kill and set fire with confidence, because forgiveness belongs only to God, and yet believe that God will forgive you.
Davus failed to stop Ammonius from throwing stones at Orestes, nor did Parabalani from slaughtering innocent Hypatia. When he heard that Parabalani was planning to kill Hypatia, he threw down the stone and sword (again, a close-up) and ran desperately to Hypatia's house and the Admiral's house, trying to inform Hypatia. But it was too late. He met Parabalani on the street who was holding Hypatia. Knowing that he could not rescue Hypatia, he had to follow her. When Parabalani was about to cut Hypatia's flesh with a knife, he suggested that they stone her to death. As they went out to collect stones, Davus leaned behind Hypatia and covered Hypatia with his hands in tears so that she would not be tortured to death by Parabalani. The first time Davus was so close to Hypatia was after a crime, and this time he destroyed his love and ideals with his own hands.
At the end of the film we see Davus leaving alone through the dome of the temple/chapel. Behind him, the mob tortured Hypatia's body inhumanely. We don't know the story of Davus since then, because he is just a fictional character without a corresponding historical character archetype, because he symbolizes history to some extent, as Beauvoir quoted Sartre in "The Second Sex" : "We are both victims and persecutors, just like everyone." Like Davus, we may not only witness religious persecution, but also participate in or be persecuted. The end of the film is helpless, the religious reflection revealed in it is pessimistic, and only the scientific truth upheld by Hypatia also reveals a ray of light. But Hypatia is a tiny minority after all, and most of us are probably Davus.
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