Berenice Epideires or "Berenice upon the Neck of Land", was a town on the west shore of the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

, near the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb

Bab-el-Mandeb

The Bab-el-Mandeb meaning "Gate of Grief" in Arabic , is a strait located between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, Djibouti and Eritrea, north of Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, and connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden...

, in the modern-day country of Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

. Its position on a sandy spit or promontory of land was the cause of its distinctive appellation. Some authorities, however, attribute the name to the neighborhood of a more considerable town named Deire (or Deira); but the precise situation of the latter is unknown.