Legend has it that Djerba was the island of the lotus-eaters^[2] where Odysseus was stranded on his voyage through the Mediterranean Sea.

The island, which was called Meninx until the third century AD, includes three principal towns. One of these, whose modern name is Būrgū^{[citation needed]}, is found near Midoun in the center of the island. Another city, on the southeast coast of the island at Meninx, was a major producer of priceless murex dye, and is cited by Pliny the Elder as second only to Tyre in this regard. A third important town was the ancient Haribus. The island was densely inhabited in the Roman and Byzantine per

iods, and probably imported much of the grain consumed by its inhabitants.