In the 5th century, Jerome wrote that Athanasius came to Rome to speak to powerful Roman women about the monks and monasteries in the desert of Roman Egypt. Jerome wrote that this was the start of monasteries in the west of the Roman Empire. This is probably not true, but Athanasius probably did lobbying with Eutropia and others to try to get back political power in the Christian Church. Eutropia was a woman in the emperor's family, so Athanasius will have tried to get help from her when he was in Rome between 339 and 342.