“Muslims were not the first in the Near East to interpret dreams. This type of divination had a long history, and Muslims were not ignorant of that history.” The interest of early Arab Islamic cultures in dreams can be proved by the vast literature on dreams and their interpretation as well as dream accounts written in diverse historical texts. The Ottoman Empire was no different in that it also shared this culture of dream interpretation and narration. Unlike past scholarship that ignored the significance of dreams, the number of studies addressing the subject has increased in the recent decades, thanks to the growing tendency of scholars to see dreams as potential sources for cultural history. However, as Peter Burke has stated, scholars and historians in particular must bear in mind the fact that “they do not have access to the dream itself but at best to a written record, modified by the preconscious or conscious mind in the course of recollection and writing.” Historians must be aware of the fact that dream accounts might be recorded by dreamers who recounted how they wanted to remember them. The “reality” of the dream, in a sense, may be distorted. However, dream accounts, distorted or not, can provide a ground for historical analysis because they may reveal the most intimate sentiments, aspirations, and anxieties of the dreamer. Such self-narratives can provide the historian with information necessary to map the mindset of a historical personage, because “such ‘secondary elaboration’ probably reveals the character and problems of the dreamer as clearly as the dream itself does.” This paper focuses on a sampling of dreams related in an 18th-century Ottoman self-narrative to provide insight into the life and mind of an Ottoman governor. I will try to demonstrate how the author of the narrative made meaning of those dreams and revealed his aspirations.

“穆斯林并不是近东第一个解释梦的人。这种占卜的历史悠久，穆斯林对这段历史并非一无所知。” 早期阿拉伯伊斯兰文化对梦的兴趣可以通过大量关于梦及其解释的文献以及不同历史文本中的梦记来证明。奥斯曼帝国没有什么不同，因为它也分享了这种解梦和叙述的文化。与过去忽视梦的重要性的学术不同，近几十年来，针对该主题的研究数量有所增加，这要归功于学者越来越倾向于将梦视为文化历史的潜在来源。然而，正如彼得伯克所说，学者和历史学家尤其必须牢记这样一个事实，即“他们无法接近梦境本身，但充其量只能获得书面记录，在回忆和写作过程中被前意识或有意识的头脑修改过。” 历史学家必须意识到，做梦者可能会记录梦中的记述，他们讲述了他们想如何记住它们。从某种意义上说，梦的“现实”可能会被扭曲。然而，梦的叙述，无论是否扭曲，都可以为历史分析提供依据，因为它们可能揭示做梦者最亲密的情感、愿望和焦虑。这种自我叙述可以为历史学家提供必要的信息来描绘历史人物的心态，因为“这种‘二次阐述’很可能像梦本身一样清楚地揭示了做梦者的性格和问题。” 本文重点介绍与 18 世纪奥斯曼帝国自述相关的梦境样本，以深入了解奥斯曼帝国总督的生活和思想。我将尝试展示叙述的作者如何理解这些梦想并揭示他的愿望。