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22-649: The governorate of Gabès is in southeast Tunisia on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès , 376 km south of the capital, Tunis . Gabès has a hot Mediterranean climate. Gabès offers five contrasting landscapes: the beach, the mountains, the desert, small forest, oasis . It contains the eastern end of Chott el Fejej . The coast is approximately half of that of the large bay. The gulf has several alternative names dating to antiquity and to an etymological association with onshore winds and sandbanks making navigation difficult, including Lesser Syrtis (see Gulf of Sidra which takes in also

44-483: Is divided into ten delegations ( mutamadiyat ), ten municipalities , nine rural councils, and 73 sectors ( imadas ). The delegations and their populations from the 2004 and 2014 censuses, are listed below: Ten municipalities are in Gabès Governorate: Matmata is a Berber-speaking town largely of underground homes conserved with a community-based pre-industrialized lifestyle. The south-centre of

66-400: Is inhabited by the lotus-eaters, who live entirely on the fruit of the lotus-tree. The lotus fruit is about the size of the lentisk berry and in sweetness resembles the date . The lotus-eaters even succeed in obtaining from it a sort of wine. Polybius identifies the land of the lotus-eaters as the island of Djerba (ancient Meninx), off the coast of Tunisia . Later, this identification

88-552: Is supported by Strabo . Pseudo-Scylax mentions lotus-eaters in area of northern and central Dalmatia ("namely the Iaderatenai and Boulinoi "). Because the Greek word λωτός lōtós can refer to several different plants, there is some ambiguity as to which "lotus" appears in the Odyssey . The Lotos-Eaters is a poem by Alfred Tennyson , describing a group of mariners who, upon eating

110-581: The Greater Syrtis in Libya, is a gulf on Tunisia 's east coast in the Mediterranean Sea , off North Africa . The gulf roughly spans the coast from Sfax to Djerba . At the head of the gulf is the city of Gabès (Ghannouche) where the tides have a large range of up to 2.1 m at spring tides . Both Gabès and Sfax are major ports on the gulf, supporting sponge and tuna fisheries , with Gabès being

132-474: The Kerkennah Islands and the coast around Sfax. The centroid for the smaller gulf is at 33°59′29″N 10°24′09″E  /  33.99139°N 10.40250°E  / 33.99139; 10.40250 , and the distance across is 68.5 kilometres (42.6 mi), with a depth of 51.0 kilometres (31.7 mi). The larger gulf is 150 kilometres (93 mi) across with a depth of 90 kilometres (56 mi), and

154-660: The Wilāyat has semi-desert mountains and natural features nearby include splendid oases and caves. Eclectic souqs feature in the main municipalities, with traditional wood, stone, metal and textile products. This Tunisia location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gulf of Gab%C3%A8s The Gulf of Gabes (or Cabès , Cabes , Gaps ; Arabic : خليج قابس , romanized :  ḫalīǧ Qābis ), also known as Lesser Syrtis (from Ancient Greek : Μικρά Σύρτις , romanized :  Mikrá Sýrtis ; Latin : Syrtis Minor ), contrasting with

176-542: The economic and administrative center. The Latin name Syrtis Minor is used by Pliny the Elder , quoting an earlier description in Polybius 1.39.2 , who uses the equivalent Ancient Greek : ἡ μικρά Σύρτις (elsewhere also Σύρτις ἡ μικρά, Σύρτις ἡ μικροτέρα, ἡ μικροτέρα Σύρτις ). An alternative name was Λωτοφαγῖτις σύρτις Lōtophagîtis sýrtis "Syrtis of the lotus-eaters ", reported by Strabo . (Compare Syrtis Major ,

198-516: The lotos "sweet as honey" . The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic , causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy . After they ate the lotus, they would forget their home and loved ones and long only to stay with their fellow lotus-eaters. Those who ate the plant never cared to report or return. Figuratively, 'lotus-eaters' denotes "people who spend their time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns". In English,

220-475: The lotus-eaters ( Ancient Greek : λωτοφάγοι , lōtophágoi ), are also referred to as the lotophagi or lotophaguses (singular lotophagus / l ə ˈ t ɒ f ə ɡ ə s / ) or lotophages (singular lotophage / ˈ l oʊ t ə f eɪ dʒ / ). In Homer 's epic poem the Odyssey Book IX, Odysseus tells how adverse north winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea ,

242-653: The Gulf of Gabes which now form salt domes and diapirs . In addition carbon and hydrocarbons primarily from vegetation were deposited. These now form the basis for the oil and gas industry in the gulf. Among the important oil and gas fields in the gulf are the Ashtart Field and the Chergui Field. The Ashtart Oil Terminal lies just outside the gulf at 34°17′N 11°23′E  /  34.283°N 11.383°E  / 34.283; 11.383 where tankers can easily tranship

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264-563: The Lesser Syrtis. In Book IV of the Histories , Herodotus describes a violent ritual that took place in the region: During a festival dedicated to the goddess Athena, their young women divided into two camps and then set to fighting each other with blows from stones and wooden clubs, thereby enacting, as they say, a ceremonial that was instituted by their ancestors in honor of the indigenous deity whom we call Athena. Some of them who die from

286-696: The ancient name of the Gulf of Sidra.) Syrtis is referred to in the New Testament of the Bible where the Apostle Paul relates being sent in chains to Rome to stand trial before Caesar Nero. The crew of his ship was worried about being driven by a storm into Syrtis, and took precautions to prevent it, resulting, eventually, in being shipwrecked on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. Strabo refers to Tacape (the modern Gabès ) as an important entrepot of

308-515: The centroid is at 34°04′48″N 10°28′36″E  /  34.08000°N 10.47667°E  / 34.08000; 10.47667 . The entire Gulf of Gabes, both larger and smaller versions, is underlain by the continental shelf of the African Plate , and is nowhere deeper than 200 meters. During the Permian Period and Triassic Period , carbonate minerals and evaporites were deposited in

330-507: The industrial complex of Gabès, utilizing the resources of the Gafsa mines. In 2013, following the deaths of two children from radiation-related illnesses, protests erupted in the Gabès District, demanding a reduction in phosphate pollution. Activists also launched online campaigns to raise awareness and engage with the government in efforts to address the issue. Administratively, the governorate

352-665: The mainly Libyan portion of the continental gulf). Despite the growing development of the industrial sector, farming remains the dominant activity in the governorate. In last few decades, many chemical plants have been built in Gabès, mainly for processing and producing phosphate, phosphoric acid, diammonium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate. Gulf of Gabès is one the richest fishing areas in Tunisia. The governorate has three industrial zones: Gabès, Métouia-El Aouinet and El Hamma. Since 1972, Several phosphate fertilizer plants have been built in

374-423: The northwest. Ras Yonga is just north of the island of Jazīrat Khunayyis and its marshes and some 52 kilometres (32 mi) southwest of Sfax. The geographer Strabo indicated that the entrance to the gulf was located at the islands of Cercinna (Kerkennah) and Meninx (Djerba). Following Strabo gives a larger area with the line being from just north of Sfax to Djerba Island. That larger area would include part of

396-450: The oil. Lotus-eaters In Greek mythology , lotophages or the lotus-eaters ( Ancient Greek : λωτοφάγοι , romanized :  lōtophágoi ) were a race of amazigh people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree off of coastal Libya (Island of Djerba ) , a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The Lotophagi race in the Odyssey are said to eat the fruit of

418-554: The people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to

440-462: The ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars. Herodotus , in the 5th century BC, was sure that they still existed in his day in coastal Libya : A promontory jutting out into the sea from the country of the Gindanes

462-502: The southernmost tip of the Peloponnesus , headed westwards for Ithaca : I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men

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484-531: The wounds are called false virgins. A modern counterpart to this festival of violence, involving two opposing gangs near the Shatt al-Jerid annually engaging in combat with stones and clubs was described in Une fete de printemps au Jerid (1942) by G. Payre. Most sources consider the Gulf of Gabès as just being within the line between the northwest tip of Djerba (Jerba) Island on the southeast and Ras Yonga (Point Yonga) on

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