Blue desertsCiglenečki, Jan (Avtor) Bobovnik, Nena (Avtor) Bonosusinsular eremitismmonasticismasceticismDalmatiaThis article focuses on Jerome as one of the first ,ideologists of the desert‘. To this end, it discusses his letters, Vitae, and his personal experience in the desert of Chalcis (c. 374–377 AD). Jerome is also an important historical source for the 4th-century insular eremitism in the Adriatic: in Ep. 60 to Heliodorus, he mentioned Dalmatia as one of the three archetypal deserts, equating it with Egypt and Mesopotamia. The article analyses Jerome’s extant references on anchoretic communities and ascetic monks residing in Dalmatia. A special place among them was given to Bonosus, Jerome’s close friend who around 374 AD moved to an unknown Northern Dalmatian island. Jerome depicted Bonosus’ ascetic life on an island as an ideal that surpasses even the established forms of eremitism in more traditional desert environments. Jerome’s propaganda for insulae Dalmatiae raises the question about their possible localization, which is shortly discussed in the concluding paragraphs. 20212024-10-14 11:17:15Članek v reviji163923UDK: 27-36-1sv.HieronimISSN pri članku: 0006-5722DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/02/CigleneckiCOBISS_ID: 87861251sl