The Municipality of Rethymnon and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) are organizing for the year 2025 a series of lectures addressed to the general public of Rethymnon. In these talks, open to everyone, the Institute's researchers will present elements of their research work in an accessible way, followed by a discussion.

The second lecture took place on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 by Marinos Sariyannis, a researcher at IMS-FORTH, who presented some aspects of the relationship of the Ottomans with the supernatural element during the early modern period, i.e. until the early 19th century.

The lecture attempted a survey of the traditional world image of the Ottoman society, with the role reserved for the stars, the jinn and other cosmic powers, and then examined miracle-working and the importance of dreams, as well as, more generally, the contacts with the Hereafter, including ghosts and vampires. Finally, the lecture analyzed the various sorts of magic and posed the question whether we can talk of a "disenchantment" of the world from the 17th century onwards.

The lecrure is also available here