That the Hebdomon was situated on the shore of the Sea of Marmora is placed beyond dispute by the fact that ships approaching Constantinople from the south reached the Hebdomon before arriving at the city. When, for example, Epiphanius came by ship from Cyprus to Constantinople, in 402, to attend a synod called to condemn the heresies of Origen, he landed at the Hebdomon, and celebrated divine service there in the Church of St. John the Baptist, before entering the capital.[1207] This order in the stages of the bishop’s journey implies that the suburb stood on the shore of the Sea of Marmora. Again, when the fleet of Heraclius came up from Carthage to overthrow Phocas, in 610, the latter proceeded to the Hebdomon to view the ships of the hostile expedition as they stood off the suburb, and there he remained until they advanced towards the city, when he mounted horse and hurried back to fight for his throne.[1208] Such proceedings were possible only if the suburb stood beside the Sea of Marmora. Yet again; the Saracen fleets which came against Constantinople, in 673 and 717, put into the harbour of the Hebdomon on their way to the city. On the first occasion the enemy’s vessels anchored, says Theophanes,[1209] “off Thrace, from the promontory of the Hebdomon, otherwise named Magnaura, to the promontory of the Cyclobion.” The ships of the second Saracen expedition, likewise, “anchored between the Magnaura and the Cyclobion.” There they waited for two days, and then, taking advantage of a south wind, “they sailed alongside the city,” some of them making the ports of Anthemius and Eutropius (at Kadikeui), others of them reaching the Bosporus, and dropping anchor between Galata and Klidion (Ortakeui).[1210] Manifestly, the Hebdomon lay to the west of the city, upon the Sea of Marmora. Let one more proof of this fact suffice. When Pope Constantine visited Constantinople in 708, for the settlement of certain disputes between Eastern and Western Christendom, he came all the way by sea until he reached the Hebdomon. There the Pontiff and his retinue disembarked, and having been welcomed with distinguished honour, mounted horses which had been sent from the Imperial stables, and rode into the city in great state: “A quo loco (the island Cæa) navigantes venerunt a Septimo Milliario Constantinopolim, ubi egressus Tiberius Imperator, filius Justiniani Augusti (Justinian II.) cum Patriciis, cum clero, et populi multitudine, omnes lætantes, et diem festum agentes. Pontifex autem et ejus primates, cum sellaribus imperialibus, sellis et frenis inauratis, simul et mappulis, ingressi sunt civitatem.”[1211] On the view that the Hebdomon was situated beside the Sea of Marmora, all this is clear. The data for determining the situation of the Hebdomon therefore are: that the suburb was seven miles from the city; that it stood beside the Sea of Marmora; that it had a harbour, on the one hand, and a plain of considerable extent, on the other.