‘Thence for nine days’ space I was borne by direful winds over the teeming deep; but on the tenth we set foot on the land of the Lotus-eaters, who eat a flowery food….and the Lotus-eaters did not plan death for my comrades, but gave them of the lotus to taste. And whosoever of them ate of the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus, had no longer any wish to bring back word or to return, but there they were fain to abide among the Lotus-eaters, feeding on the lotus, and forgetful of their homeward way…’ Odyssey 9.82ff. (online text: Eng., Grk.)
[quotes are selective; follow links for complete passages]
Ancient Localization
“There is a headland jutting out into the sea from the land of the Gindanes [coast of Libya]; on it live the Lotus Eaters, whose only fare is the lotus.”
(online text: Eng., Grk.)
Pseudo-Scylax, Periplus 110.1, 4
“And beside the part outside the Syrtis live Libyans, the nation Lotus- eaters, as far as the mouth of the other Syrtis. These people use lotus as food and drink.” (Djerba is linked especially with the lotus)
(online text: Eng., Grk.)
Polybius, Histories 1.39
“At length they came to the island of the Lotophagi called Mēnix, which is not far from the Lesser Syrtis.”
(online text: Eng., Grk.)
Strabo, Geography 1.2.17, 17.3.17
1.2.17: “The customs of the inhabitants of Meninx [= Djerba] closely correspond to the description of the Lotophagi. If any thing does not correspond, it should be attributed to change, or to misconception, or to poetical licence, which is made up of history, rhetoric, and fiction.”
(online text: Eng., Grk. )
17.3.17: “Meninx [=Djerba] is supposed to be the ‘land of the lotus-eaters’ mentioned by Homer.”
(online text: Eng., Grk.)
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 5.4.26
“We next come to the Greater Syrtis, 625 miles in circumference, and at the entrance 312 miles in width; next after which dwells the nation of the Cisippades. At the bottom of this gulf was the coast of the Lotophagi….”
(online text: Eng., Lat.)
Pomponius Mela, Description of the World, 1.3
“[The Lesser Syrtis gulf’s] first promontory is Borion, and, from there on, the shore (which the Lotus-Eaters are said to have Occupied) reaches….”
(online text: Eng., Lat.)
Ptolemy Geography 4.3
(links the Lotus-eaters with the coast of Libya)
