At the second session of the Entangled Histories seminar series, Ester Cristaldi from the Faculty of Communication at Üsküdar University evaluated Medieval riddles from the Byzantine and Islamic worlds in the context of language, sensory perception, and sacredness. The public seminar was held with strong audience interest.
The second meeting of the seminar series titled “Entangled Histories: Borders and Cultural Encounters from the Medieval to the Contemporary Era,” organized in collaboration by Asst. Prof. Maria Pia Ester Cristaldi from Üsküdar University and Elisa Ramazzina from Insubria University, was held online on December 3, 2025. At the event, Ester Cristaldi, a faculty member of the Faculty of Communication at Üsküdar University, met with participants through her presentation titled “Perceiving the Divine from the Margins: Sensory Experience, Linguistic and Theological Boundaries in Byzantine and Islamic Medieval Riddles.”
Focusing on the riddles used in Medieval Islamic and Byzantine cultures, Cristaldi addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective how these texts question the boundaries between sensory experience and theological knowledge.
The Entangled Histories seminar series, conducted with open public participation, will continue to offer a space for discussion on different cultural and historical encounters until the summer months. All events are also open to participants from outside academia.