The true story of an incredible forgery in Sicilian Palermo at the end of the 18th century. The Egyptian Council presents a concise, amusing, and ironic allegory about power, deception, and betrayal. While the nobility defends the class society at elegant festivities and games, young liberals dream of enlightenment inspired by the French model. Don Giuseppe Vella, a Maltese monk, seizes the opportunity of the historical moment at the viceroy's court for a grand deception. Although hardly proficient in Arabic, he presents a biography of the Prophet as a codex that enshrines the feudal privileges of the Sicilian nobility. Rewarded with luxury, he rises to the position of abbot and Arabist at the university, and now invents a new collection, The Egyptian Council. He forges documents in a pseudo-Arabic, for which he seeks a translation into Sicilian.