The area of Kotroni is tentatively identified as Afidna, one of the original twelve districts which the legendary king Cecrops II brought together to create the polis of Athens, with the process of synoecism completed by the founder hero of the city, Theseus. According to the legends it was here that Theseus hid a young Helen of Sparta, entrusting her and his mother Aithra to his friend and legendary king Afidnos. Afidna was later besieged by the brothers of Helen, Kastor and Polydeukis (the Dioskouroi), who returned Helen (and Aithra) to Sparta. So powerful was Afidna, allegedly, in defending this attack and so difficult the siege, that the Spartans spared nearby Marathon during the Peloponnesian War because it had aided the Dioskouroi in the Afidnian war (Finlay 1839, 307).