Thanks, Thought Bubble. To avoid the sticky situation of having to consort with the heathen Egyptians, the Venetians employed a handy story. This is the Piazza San Marco, the number one destination in the entire world for people who like to be pooped on by pigeons. It's also home to this church, which includes some bronze horses you may remember that were looted from Constantinople. And it contains the body of Saint Mark, author of the Gospel according to Saint Mark, who had once been the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. So naturally he died and was buried in Alexandria, but the Venetians claimed him as their own, because apparently one time he visited Venice, and these two merchants hatched a very clever plan. They went to Alexandria on business, stole Saint Mark's body, and then hid it in a shipment of pork, which the Muslims didn't check very carefully because, you know, they were disgusted by it.