The Gulf of Gabes (or Cabès, Cabes, Gaps; ), also known as Lesser Syrtis (from ; ), contrasting with 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 the economic and administrative center. History The Latin name Syrtis Minor is used by Pliny the Elder, quoting an earlier description in Polybius 1.39.2, who uses the equivalent (elsewhere also ). An alternative name was Lōtophagîtis sýrtis "Syrtis of the lotus-eaters", reported by Strabo. (Compare Syrtis Major, 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 the Lesser Syrtis. In Book IV of the Histories, Herodotus describes a violent ritual that took place in the region: 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. Geography 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 the northwest. Ras Yonga is just north of the island of Jazīrat Khunayyis and its marshes and some 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 the Kerkennah Islands and the coast around Sfax. The centroid for the smaller gulf is at , and the distance across is