Alcaeus ( grc, ), the son of Miccus, was an
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
comic poet.
[Suidas α 1274] His comedies marked the transition between
Old Comedy and Middle Comedy. In 388 BC, his play ''Pasiphae'' was awarded the fifth (i.e. last) place prize in the same contest that
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...
exhibited his play ''
Plutus
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; grc-gre, Πλοῦτος, Ploûtos, wealth) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion.
Family
Plutus is most common ...
''.
Fabricius mentions another Alcaeus, a tragedian. This appears to be the same person as Alcaeus the comic poet.
Surviving titles and fragments
Fragments of ten plays have survived. The titles of eight plays still exist, along with forty fragments altogether, most of which suggest that he worked mainly in mythological subjects.
*''Adephai Moicheuomenai'' ("The Adulterous Sisters")
*''Callisto''
*''Endymion''
*''Hieros Gamos'' ("Holy Marriage")
*''Komadotragodia'' ("Comedo-Tragedy")
*''Palaistra'' ("
Palaestra
A palaestra ( or ;
also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both indep ...
")
*''Panymedes''
*''Pasiphae'' (See above)
References
{{authority control
Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights
Old Comic poets
Middle Comic poets