Nowadays, we do not see the Mediterranean world as a unit. We see the northern shores as European and Christian, and the southern shores as African and Muslim. But for hundreds of years, the entire Mediterranean was a unit controlled by the Roman Empire. Wealth from these regions flowed into the city of Rome. Egypt was called the granary of Rome.

About 1,700 years ago, the Roman Empire became Christian and the Emperor decreed that everyone in his land should follow Christianity. This is the first time when religion became a political tool. And all local cults and pagan practices were wiped out and replaced by Christianity, and its churches. The church that still survives from that period is, of course the Roman church, and the church in Ethiopia. But at one time, Egypt was also a major centre of Christianity.