Antonius the Great, who resists devilish temptations as a hermit in the desert and becomes a model for monasticism, is a key figure in early Christianity. Peter Gemeinhardt recounts the life of the saint, which lasted over a hundred years, based on numerous ancient sources, and shows why this archetype of an ascetic has inspired so many writers and artists in modern times. Few ancient Christians have fascinated their contemporaries as much as Antonius (circa 250 - 356). The life of the Egyptian hermit serves as a window into a foreign and distant world, where Christianity was one religion among others, torn by internal struggles, brutally persecuted by Roman emperors, and searching for a way to live the faith as a Christian in the world—or on its fringes. Peter Gemeinhardt reconstructs the life of the saint from his childhood in the Middle East.