Anthony the Great

Anthony was born around 251 in Egypt. Around 270, he left for the wilderness—not the first ascetic, but among the first to go that remote, and the move made him famous. He lived as a hermit in the Eastern Desert, where accounts say he endured supernatural temptations that would later populate countless paintings and stories. Athanasius of Alexandria wrote his biography, and the Latin translations carried the concept of Christian monasticism into Western Europe. Anthony died on 17 January 356, over a century old. He's now called the Father of All Monks, and his name stuck to a host of skin dise…