In this article Brown examines two basic questions; how the Holy Man in ancient society came to play such an important role and how his values and actions reflect upon a society which would give power to a Holy Man. The traditional paradigm incorporates elements of Darwinian theory, i.e. after the fall of Greek society the customs of more primitive societies worked they way upward to the Roman world. Brown attributes Syria (not Egypt) as the cradle of the ideal of the sainted Holy Man.(108) Holy men in many instances were viewed as "intermediaries" for those who could not make pilgrimages. Exorcisms, visions and prophecy were also important. Brown's article provides a good background on the idea of the "holy man" from many perspectives including social as well as psychological. The tradition of the "holy man" phenomena lasted in the east until the Muslim conquests.

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