Anthony is sometimes considered the first monk,[14] and the first to initiate solitary desertification,[16] but there were others before him. There were already ascetic hermits (the Therapeutae), and loosely organized cenobitic communities were described by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria in the 1st century AD as long established in the harsh environment of Lake Mareotis and in other less accessible regions. Philo opined that "this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good."[17] Christian ascetics such as Thecla had likewise retreated to isolated locations at the outskirts of cities.