Guido delle Colonne

Guido delle Colonne (in Latin Guido de Columnis or de Columna) was an early 13th century Sicilian writer, living at Messina, who wrote in Latin. He is the author of a prose narrative of the Trojan War entitled Historia destructionis Troiae ("History of the destruction of Troy") that was based on De excidio Trojae historia written by Dares Phrygius and Ephemeridos belli Trojani written by Dictys Cretensis.

Dante (De vulgari eloquentia 2.5) named Guido as a poet in the vernacular, and in fact five poems by him in Italian survive.

Further reading

• Benson, C. David, The History of Troy in Middle English Literature: Guido delle Colonne's Historia Destructionis Troiae in Medieval England, Rowman & Littlefield (1980), ISBN 0847662896
• Chiàntera, Raffaele, Guido delle Colonne: Poeta e storico latino del sec. XIII e il problema della lingua della nostra primitiva lirica d'arte, Napoli: Casa Editrice ‘Federico & Adria' di P. Federico, 1956.
• Keller, Wolfram R., Selves and Nations: The Troy Story from Sicily to England in the Middle Ages, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2008.
• Lumiansky, R. M., “The Story of Troilus and Briseida according to Benoit and Guido,” Speculum 29.4 (1954): 727-33.