[1] According to the Suda, Colothus was the author of a Calydoniaca in six books, doubtless an account of the Calydonian boar hunt, Persica, probably an encomium on emperor Anastasius composed at the end of the Persian wars, and Encomia, or laudatory poems.
All works mentioned in the Suda are lost, but his poem in 392 hexameters on The Abduction of Helen (Ἁρπαγὴ Ἑλένης) is still extant, having been discovered by Cardinal Bessarion in Calabria.
[1] The Abduction opens with an invocation to the nymphs of the Troad whom the poet asks for information about Paris as the originator of the Trojan conflict (1–16), followed by the account of how the gods attended the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, how they forgot to invite Eris, who searched for retaliation throwing a golden apple amongst the gods (17–63); Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all want to have it and Zeus orders Hermes to take the three goddesses to visit the handsome shepherd Paris, who should award the apple to one of them (64–79); the goddesses enhance their appearances before meeting up the shepherd, with Aphrodite launching a speech on her court of Erotes (80–100).
Paris, more interested in playing the pipes than in taking care of his sheep, receives from Hermes the assignment to award the apple to the most beautiful goddess (101–30); submitting to his eyes, Athena offers him courage and victory in war, Hera to make him lord of all Asia, and Aphrodite, baring her breasts, the hand of Helen (131–65); Paris awards the apple to Aphrodite, who scorns Hera and Athena, and prepares his trip to Sparta to seduce Helen (166–200).
The anonymous writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition described the poem as "dull and tasteless, devoid of imagination, a poor imitation of Homer, and [having] little to recommend it except its harmonious versification, based upon the technical rules of Nonnus",[1] It has been more recently evaluated as a "short and charming miniature epic".