Islamic Practices, Traditions and Beliefs in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Early 16th Century: Georgius Gemnicensis’ Ephemeris

Abstract

This article reports several excerpts of Georgius Gemnicensis’ Ephemeris, a travel journal in which the author recounted his experiences in Mamluk Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, and provided a number of details about customs, beliefs and Islamic practices in such territories at the beginning of the 16th century. Despite the fact that it does not outline a complete landscape, the Ephemeris provides many useful reports about Muslim daily practices (rituals, festivals, beliefs) and culture, in which mystical Islam played an undeniable role, intertwining with other religious traditions and various exogenous and endogenous narratives.