ABSTRACT
Athanasius' portrait of Anthony has been the most important one for both monastic audiences and other readers. The longest and most detailed account, it is the predictable mix of factual information gathered from those who knew Anthony, idealized scenarios about Anthony's life and teaching, and Athanasius' own agenda. Opinions vary about the reliability of Athanasius' version of Anthony and his teaching. The basic plot of Anthony's life as presented by Athanasius is easily told. Born a Christian to prosperous landowning parents, he was orphaned with his younger sister when he was eighteen. Athanasius presents the physical journey in a somewhat stylized manner, but other sources confirm Anthony's withdrawal into deeper solitude at greater distances from human settlement. Athanasius records that Anthony 'loved' his mountain. As Athanasius describes it, Anthony's asceticism was typical of what we know about Egyptian anchoritic monasticism.
