The Kikones first appear as a separate group of people in the Iliad where they were allies of the Trojans (2.846). The Odyssey, however, is the earliest text which gives us the ethnicon Kikones in association with Ismaros. In a single episode (Od. 9.39-60) Odysseus attacked the Kikones, who are clearly identified with their tribal name, for no apparent reason apart from greed. He and his fellows plundered their town, specifically called polis, in an act not too dissimilar to piracy where social values were not respected. The Kikones then called their inland kinsmen and fought back, defeating the feasting Achaeans.

In a different episode (Od. 9.193-215) Odysseus protected Maron, a priest of Apollo, and his family. The text locates Maron’s oikos in the grove (ἄλσος) of the god watching over Ismaros. In return, the priest of Apollo offered him sweet red wine in a banquet-type scene and presented Odysseus with gold and silver vessels. Three important elements, establishing a clear link with the Aegean world, can be discussed here. The first one is Maron’s way of drinking. He mixed the sweet red wine with water. This manner of drinking, quintessential to Greek culture, is well attested in ancient testimonies and the crater, a specifically designed vessel to serve this purpose, was in use for centuries. This was also the type of vessel, which Maron gave to Odysseus. The Thracians, on the other side, were notorious, according to later authors, for their drinking habits and their preference to drinking undiluted wine. Next is the mentioning of Maron’s wife who was also present at the feast. Married women appear in Homeric banqueting scenes and the episode with Maron is not an exception in this regard. Third comes the gift-giving, a powerful tool in establishing a xenia-bond, so important in the world of Homer and well-attested in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean since the Late Bronze Age. In a number of instances in the epics, gifts were exchanged between the host and his guest/guests and the episode with Maron fits the practice well. Maron acts as a typical host and he and Odysseus develop a xenia-bond, which serves to portray them as equals sharing the virtues of civilised life through the symbols of banqueting and gift-giving. Similarly to the wine-drinking, Maron acts more like an Aegean host in the fashion of his time.

The two episodes suggest that the Kikones were not the only people living in the coastal zone of Ismaros at the time of the composition of the Odyssey and Homer must have had certain knowledge about that. Although the area of Ismaros must have been controlled by the politically and military strong Kikones, the presence of Aegean people there before the establishment of Maroneia, introduced in the epics through the image of Maron and his household, seems to be very likely. It is generally agreed that the Odyssey must have been composed in the early 7^th c. BC and recent studies have convincingly advocated that the Homeric epics reflect important aspects of Homer’s contemporary world. Two brief surviving mentions of Ismaros and Maroneia by Archilochus complement the Homeric narrative. The lyric poet (fr. 291) provides the earliest reference to Maroneia in the context of strife with the Thasians over Stryme (Harp. s.v. Stryme). Considering the generally accepted date for Archilochus’ floruit in mid-seventh century, this information provides us with a terminus ante quem for the foundation of Maroneia before the middle of the 7^th century. The combination with the date of the composition of the Odyssey leaves us, therefore, with the very late 8^th or the early 7^th c. BC as the most likely chronological setting for the mixed demographic situation on the coast of Ismaros, reflected in the discussed episodes from the Odyssey. It was likely the time just before the establishment of the Chian apoikia, since Homer does not know of a town called Maroneia, unlike Archilochus.

At the end of the 6^th c. BC the Milesian logographer Hecateus mentioned Ζώνη πόλις Κικόνων, while shortly after him, in the middle of the 5^th c. BC Herodotus (7.59) tells us that Zone is one of the Samothracian establishments on the opposite coast, which belonged since old times to the Kikones. He also describes (7.108) the coast between Doriskos, on river Hebros to the east and Stryme to the west, as being Kikonian. Herodotus is the last one to refer to the native people of that area as Kikones, since the ethnonym disappears from later texts. Strabo (6, fr. 44) who mentions Ξάνθεια, Μαρώνεια και Ίσμαρος πόλεις των Κικόνων is a notable late exception. Both Homer and Hecateus associated Kikonian settlements with the Greek word polis, which may appear controversial at first glance. It was suggested that the use of the term polis in Homeric epics was mostly in topographical terms and less so in a political sense, often in conjunction with city walls or referring to the city as a whole. The phrase in Hecateus, on the other hand, was interpreted as referring to Zone as a Greek polis with strong Kikonian presence within the city. The significant number of votive inscriptions in Thracian language from Zone seem to confirm Greek – Thracian cohabitation at the site. Discovered in the Apollo sanctuary in Zone, these votive inscriptions form the currently most numerous corpus of texts in Thracian language. The majority of these (237 out of 291 in total) dated to the 6^th and early 5^th c. BC, while the rest belongs to 5^th c. BC. The corpus is complimented by four public inscriptions on stone, three in Thracian language and one bilingual (Thracian and ancient Greek), discovered in the city and dated to the late 5^th – 4^th c. BC. Three more inscriptions on stone of 4^th c. BC date from neighbouring Maroneia also present evidence for the use of Thracian language as late as 4^th c. BC in the area.

The inscroptions from Maroneia and Zone indicate that the Kikones were not only living together with the Greek settlers, but must have adopted a Greek lifestyle, which would explain why they remain archaeologically invisible after the early 5^th c. BC. It is also not surprising that their ethnonym disappears from the written accounts after Herodotus. They must have fused with the Greek settlers thus contributing to the creation of new polis identities such citizen of Zone, citizen of Maroneia instead of the older, ethnic ones.