Colluthus or Coluthus (Greek: Κόλουθος) of Lycopolis was a Theban epic poet who wrote in Greek, flourishing in the late 5th-early 6th century AD. Suidas attributes three poems to him: the six-book Calydonica (Καλυδονικά – about the hunt for the Calydonian Boar), Persica (Περσικά – an account of the Persian Wars), and a collection of laudatory verse, Encomia (ε̉γκώμια δι̉ ε̉πω̂ν); none of which are extant today.

His sole surviving known work is The Rape of Helen (Ε̉λένης α̉ρπαγή), known from a single manuscript dating from the 10th or 11th century AD (the Codex Mutinensis). It was discovered by Johannes Bessarion in 1450 near Otranto and later donated to the library of St Mark in Venice, where it resides today.

This poem retells the story of Paris and Helen in 392 hexameters, commencing with the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and finishing with the couple's arrival in Troy. The style is imitative of Homer and Nonnus and is not highly regarded among scholars of Greek literature.

Links

1928 translation of The Rape of Helen into English (http://elfinspell.com/Colluthus543.html)