Fifth-century Alexandria, therefore, was not merely a battleground of religious dispute, but primarily the stage for a class struggle. On one side stood the old elite (like Hypatia and Orestes), representing classical education and the traditional power structure. On the other side, Christianity offered the masses—people crushed by Roman latifundia, the tax inflexibility of emperors like Diocletian, and centuries of marginalization by the Greek and Roman elites—a new collective identity and, above all, an avenue for upward social mobility.