Saint Antoine at The Louvre, Paris

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Saint Anthony or Antony was a Christian monk from Egypt revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished by various epithets including Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the Desert Fathers he is also known as the Father of All Monks. His feast day is celebrated on January 17 among Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Egyptian calendar used by the Coptic Church. The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered the first monk but as his biography makes clear there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was however the first known ascetic going into the wilderness about ad 270 a geographical move that contributed to his renown. Accounts of Anthony enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the temptation of St. Anthony in Western art and literature. Famously, Anthony is said to have faced a series of supernatural temptations during his pilgrimage to the desert. The first to report on the temptation was his contemporary Athanasius of Alexandria. It is possible these events are full of rich metaphor or perhaps a vision or dream. Some stories included in Saint Anthony's biography are perpetuated now mostly in paintings where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre interpretations. Many artists have depicted these incidents from the life of Anthony including Martin Schongauer, Hieronymus Bosch, and Salvador Dalí. Emphasis on these stories did not really begin until the Middle Ages when the psychology of the individual became of greater interest.