The stark image of desert simplicity has created a view of early Egyptian monasticism as a turn against culture and society, a movement of illiterate fanatics. However, a detailed study of the archaeological and literary evidence shows that this is a misinterpretation and that the roots of monasticism are rather to be found in the school traditions of late Antiquity. While keeping the ideals and methods of schools of rhetoric and philosophy, the monasteries exchanged ancient literary texts for Biblical material, thus creating a new corpus of wisdom literature consisting of collections of sayings, parables and anecdotes. Transmitted as the apophthegmata patrum or verba seniorum, these were rapidly translated into all the languages of medieval Christianity and have played a crucial role in the history of European education.