[1] Its name in Ancient Greek is the plural form of κολώνη (kolōnē), 'hill, mound', a common name for promontories with hills on them in the Eastern Mediterranean.

[10] In 399 BC, Kolonai was forcibly reincorporated into the Persian Empire by the local dynast Mania, but in the following year it was freed again by the Spartan general Dercyllidas.

[12] In c. 310 BC Kolonai is thought to have been part of the synoecism with Antigoneia Troas, at which point the settlement is presumed to have been abandoned.

The Aeolian identity of 4th-century BC Kolonai is independently confirmed by the legends on their coins which were spelt in the Aeolic Greek dialect.

[18] Cycnus appears on two separate occasions in Pindar, suggesting that by the early 5th century BC the myth had some currency.

[20] A similar connection between the mythical king of Kolonai and the foundation of Tenedos was made two centuries later by the travel writer Pausanias.