It was one of a series of monastic sites along the coast west of Alexandria, others being found at the fifth (Pempton), ninth (Enaton) and eighteenth (Oktokaidekaton) milestones.
In the early 7th century, John Moschus and Sophronius the Sophist visited the laura (community of hermits) of Kalamon (al-Qalamun) located at the Eikoston.
Two miles west of the Eikoston, according to Moschus' Spiritual Meadow, was a place called Maphora, the site of another monastery.
There is a stela of uncertain date recording the burial of a monk named George from Maphora at Dikhaylah in the Pempton.
In the late 7th century, John of Nikiû recorded the continued existence of the laura of Kalamon after the Muslim conquest of Egypt.