Gulf of Gabès

Coordinates: 34°00′N 10°25′E / 34.000°N 10.417°E / 34.000; 10.417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Gulf of Gabès
Lesser Syrtis
خليج قابس (
Mediterranean
Basin countriesTunisia
Max. length50 km (31 mi)
Max. width70 km (43 mi)
SettlementsGabès[1]

The Gulf of Gabes (or Cabès, Cabes, Gaps;

economic
and administrative center.

History

The Latin name Syrtis Minor is used by

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.[5] (Compare Syrtis Major, the ancient name of the Gulf of Sidra.)

Syrtis is referred to in the New Testament of the Bible

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,[7]
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 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 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.[8]

Geography

Most sources[3][9] 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 the northwest. Ras Yonga is just north of the island of Jazīrat Khunayyis and its marshes[9] 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).[5] 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 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[10] with a depth of 90 kilometres (56 mi), and 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

carbonate minerals and evaporites were deposited in the Gulf of Gabes which now form salt domes and diapirs.[13] 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[3][14] and the Chergui Field.[15] 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 the oil.[16]

Notes

  1. GoogleEarth
  2. ^ see e.g.: Cabès in
    OCLC 2041456
    ; Gaps in Charles Anthon, A classical dictionary: containing an account of the principal proper names mentioned in ancient authors, 1842, p. 1279.
  3. ^ a b c National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2002) Section 8: Tunisia–Cap Serrat to Ras Ajdir" Sailing Directions (Enroute) for Western Mediterranean (tenth edition) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Maryland, page 102
  4. ^ Naturalis Historia Book V, Chapter 4 — The Syrtes
  5. ^ a b Συνεχὴς δ’ἐστὶν ἡ μικρά σύρτις, ἣν καὶ Λωτοφαγῖτιν σύρτιν λέγουσιν. Strabo Geographica Book XVII, Chapter III, Sections 16-18 pages 288-289
  6. ^ Acts 27:10-19
  7. OCLC 1240027
  8. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511762079
    [Accessed 20 April 2016]. page 23
  9. ^
    OCLC 13589103
  10. ^ It is 150 km from the northwestern point of Djerba Island to the coast just above Sfax, but only 81 km to the island, which comports with the distances from Pliny the Elder, above.
  11. OCLC 11315850
  12. ISBN 90-5809-331-X
  13. ISBN 90-5809-331-X
  14. ISBN 90-5809-331-X
  15. ISBN 1-85743-390-4
  16. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2002) Section 8: Tunisia–Cap Serrat to Ras Ajdir" Sailing Directions (Enroute) for Western Mediterranean (tenth edition) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Maryland, page 101

External links

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