In April and May 1926 Kazantzakis travelled to the Middle East as a newspaper correspondent for Eleftheros Logos [Free Speech], together with Eleni Samiou and the Papaioannou sisters.

In Palestine, where he unexpectedly ran into Elsa Lange and Lea Levin, two friends from Berlin, he was deeply moved by the experience of Easter  - an experience which later became part of The Last Temptation. In Jerusalem he was particularly struck by his visit to the Omar Mosque, and by the sight of Christians, Jews and Muslims living together.