From the years of Minoan Crete, the Greeks lit the lamp of a long-lasting relationship with the Egyptians, which will shine and radiate from the time of Alexander the Great to the Greek queen, the beautiful Cleopatra, and to the years of Justinian, who will fortify the Monastery of Sinai and carry there the Pontic tribe of the Gabelia to guard to this day the God-blessed Mountain.
It will be followed by the Arab occupation and the final destruction of the famous library of Alexandria.
Centuries later, in the time of Muhammad Ali, the Greeks will rebuild there another brilliant intellectual and economic community, which will extend from the canals of the Suez to the city of Alexander.
Now, in the ruins inside, lonely archaeologists, romantic nostalgics, stubborn friends, unwavering ascetics, steadfast missionaries, and headstrong researchers dig in order to get to know and help these giants, whom our guilty indifference has left buried in the hot, unmoved African sand.
(Dem. Alexandrou, October 2004)