Whereas during the late 80’s I was versed in contributing many long entries to encyclopedias, in the early 90’s I turned towards scholarly writing, academic publications, and books. Whereas until my Ph. D. I was more versed into the Asiatic part of the Middle East (mostly Assyriology and Iranology), after that term I turned rather to the African part of the Middle East (mostly Egyptology). I lived in Egypt and the Sudan, and moved to Abyssinia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen, becoming more familiar with the Red Sea world for the needs of a book on the ‘Periplus of the Red Sea’.



In addition, I must tell you that I was a politically involved historian, sign that when I was student in Athens I had my communist, pro-Soviet, and socialist centrifugal ‘moment’. I believe, however, that History has been so badly manipulated by ignorant politicians, who like Apprentice Magicians turn often History against themselves, that it is an imperative task for Historians to address the general public, since the general public is always the main target and the principal recipient of the falsified versions of History promoted by politicians and governments. I did not hesitate, while living in Greece, to attack the Greek nationalist dogma that is a historical aberration and a paradoxical mixture of archeolatry and byzantinomania, to lambaste the racist character of the Greek political establishment that was at that moment hysterically anti-Turkish, anti-Macedonian, anti-Albanian, anti-Islamic, anti-European, and – last but not least – anti-Semitic!



I mobilized many Greeks, democratic and rationalistic people, against a neo-nazi monthly magazine named ‘Davlos’ that attempted an usurpation of earlier civilizations by diffusing the idiocy that the Greeks were behind all the great moments of History, and that this ‘truth’ was ‘buried’ by Jews!



I mobilized the World Muslim League for a most insulting and totally erroneous ‘manual’ of ‘Political History of the Islamic Area’ that was taught to the students of the Panteios University by a certain Constantine Patelos, who had never studied Islam before, and did not know a word of Arabic!



I mobilized the European Union and Jacques Delors personally to reject the Greek establishment’s hysteria against the excellent book of European History by Jean Baptiste Duroselle that was due to his refutation of the falsehood of the Greek national historical dogma.



I published in 1985 an article stating that Turkey was a more advanced democratic and western country than Greece since the Turkish constitution stipulated the separation of the religion from the state, whereas Greece still remains a religious state with a Constitution issued ‘at the name of the holy trinity’!



In 1990, I demanded that Greece recognize officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, publishing an article in Exormisi (18/4/90), the daily newspaper – organ of PASOK, the main opposition party (then and now). For all the aforementioned daring attitudes and stands I was very often threatened and insulted, but of course this does not bring any result, when a person who knows history faces opponents who attempt to alter History for their interests.



After publishing ten (10) books and dozens of scholarly articles, I worked during two years for the Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, participating in numerous congresses, colloquia and conferences, some of political context, namely the Western Thrace Turkish Association. You know, in that province of North-Eastern Greece, the Turkish majority lives under conditions of serious oppression, similar to those that characterize other minorities in Greece, the Macedonians, the Vlachians, the Arvanites, the Latins, the Gypsies, and the recently arrived Albanian emigrants. It is deplorable that the religious government of Greece does not permit the erection of a mosque at Athens, where more than 500000 Muslims live. As far as Northern Cyprus is concerned, it is needless to say that I was the only Greek living in that country, which was not recognized by the country that had issued my passport!



But, of course, academic research or political activism, the predicament was always there for me; sometimes I turned to the former, sometimes I turned to the latter! After 1997, academic reflection became even more attractive for me! Whereas in the past subjects from Political Ideology to Religious and Philosophical Concepts and Conflicts, and fields from Ancient Geography and Cosmography to the Development of Trade between Rome, India and China were of the utmost importance to me, over the past six – seven years I focused on critical subjects about the nature, the origin, the method and the possibilities of the Orientalism.



I have collected an enormous material in refutation of the Colonial model or school of History; I mean the Greco-Romano-Christiano-centric appro

I mean the Greco-Romano-Christiano-centric approach that minimizes the World History into a misinterpreted annex of European Studies. In this direction I go in parallel with the pertinent researches undertaken by Prof. Martin Bernal, the illustrious author of Black Athena.



On the other hand, focusing on the collapse of the Islamic Wisdom, Knowledge and Science, and studying the role played by the colonial powers, France and England, in diffusing among other nationalisms the Pan-Arabic nationalistic falsehood, and in inciting the obscurantism of uneducated sheikhs to drive them to even more unrealistic, extremist and self-damaging positions, I came to place several groundbreaking conclusions of Edouard Said within a larger, not simply literary and scholarly context, and to identify finally the basic problems that worsen the entire situation in the Middle East and Africa, endangering the life and the future of many peoples. As you understand, I preferred a time of reflection to an average academic career. The conformism and the conventionalism of the majority of present day scholars mean nothing to me. I am totally indifferent to such a perspective.





Professor Megalommatis



VF: You must have seen diverse worlds: Christian, Muslim, historian and political activist. Did you find these experiences as advantages or challenges?



Prof: I found them absolutely normal and average! They are the result of my elitist philosophical approach and of my universalistic culture that encapsulate everything in any Utopia – that of Tommaso Campanella, that of Thomas Moore, that of Voltaire, that of Cabet or that of the author of the Ancient Egyptian Narration of the Shipwrecked. When you study the division, you have the privilege to see the union, to perceive the entirety, and to be consequently lifted above and far from the level of division and partiality. But modesty is always an excellent advisor; I was never in Mandalay, I did not live in India, China and Tibet, I have not seen the Walls of the Great Zimbabwe, and la Puerta del Sol nearby the lake Titicaca in the Incas soil of Bolivia has escaped from my eyes…



VF: Your name became popular among some Ethiopian internet forum participants lately because of your writings on the history of the Horn of Africa and the Middle East regions. Many participants in the forum have tried to characterize you with different groups such as Islamic fundamentalism, member of Egyptian intelligence, member of Al Qa’eda, enemy of Ethiopia, hired by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). How do you define yourself as far as what you stand for goes?



Prof: I have no contact with all these numerous groups that are in conflict with one another! I expressed – not very much until now but enough I think – a resolute rejection of the Islamic fundamentalism and extremism. I consider this movement’s various branches have long been manipulated by colonial powers, France and England. I do not consider anyone belonging or accepting such groups, ideas, and strategies as a real Muslim. They are miserable victims that help in professionally and irreversibly denigrating Islam; you can call them anything from puppets to Satanists. Hatred, you know, is particular to Satan, according to all the religions of the world! If we go back to Ancient Egypt, we learn that the anger, the extremely negative expression, the hysteria in the discourse are all indications that the person in question has been ‘invaded’, possessed if you like, by Seth, the ancient Egyptian ‘Satan’. Now, when I hear some ‘sheikhs’ in delirium during their supposed ‘khutbah’, the Friday prayer sermon, my mind goes to Seth! I do not have anything in common with them!



Member of the Egyptian intelligence? This is a funny reproach, since I have always criticized strongly the present state of Egypt; what I have repeatedly published about Pan-Arabism, denouncing this falsehood as colonial tool of infiltration and destruction, contravenes the basic interests of present day Egypt! How can I work for a country the policies of which I strongly refute?



Enemy of Abyssinia? I was never! And why should I be? Enemy of the Ethiopia of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, i.e. the area of present day Northern and Eastern Sudan? Why? I loved, studied, and explored the area, as much as I loved Axumite Abyssinia. I passed exams on Gueze texts at Sorbonne with Maxime Rodinson. Why hate? Simply, I specified what is correct as a term for the national name of the country that has its capital in a city that they do not call after its original and true name, Finfinne, but they name ‘Addis Ababa’. The real name for that country is Abyssinia. Period.



Hired by the OLF? Well, this is also funny! First of all, there should not be an Oromo Liberation Front; the Oromo people have their own right to self-determination. As the majority in the existing country, Oromos must form the bulk of the army officers, the admi

Keep up the good work.

Yes, more History about the ancient and ever-living and indestructable Oromo people is always welcome.