Coluthus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Greek poet. For the priest who spawned a sect, see Colluthians.
Coluthus, of Lycopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, Greece was an epic poet, who flourished during the reign of Anastasius I (491-518).
According to Suidas, he was the author of Calydoniaca (probably an account of the Calydonian boar hunt), Persica (an account of the Persian wars), and Encoinia (laudatory poems).
These are all lost, but his poem in some 400 hexameters on The Rape of Helen (Ap~rwy1 EXfv~r) is still extant, having been discovered by Cardinal Bessarion in Calabria. The poem is dull and tasteless, devoid of imagination, a poor imitation of Homer, and has little to recommend it except its harmonious versification, based upon the technical rules of Nonnus. It related the history of Paris and Helen from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis down to the elopement and arrival at Troy.
The best editions are by Van Lennep (1747), GF Schafer (1825), E Abel (1880).
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
