Alcaeus (comic poet)

Alcaeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκαῖος), the son of Miccus, was an Athenian comic poet who wrote ten plays.^[1] 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. The titles of seven other plays still exist, along with forty fragments altogether, most of which suggest that he worked mainly in mythological subjects.

Titles of his plays:

• Adephai Moicheuomenai ("The Adulterous Sisters")
• Callisto
• Endymion
• Hieros Gamos ("Holy Marriage")
• Komadotragodia ("Comedo-Tragedy")
• Palaistra ("Palaestra")
• Panymedes
• Pasiphae (See above)

Fabricius mentions another Alcaeus, a tragedian.^[2] Some scholars thought that they were the same person, and calling Alcaeus "a tragedian" rose from an erroneous reading of his title "comoedo-tragoedia".^[3]

References

1. Suidas α 1274
2. Fabricius, Johann Albert, Biblioth. Grace, ii. p. 282.
3. William Smith, ed. (1870). "Alcaeus (7)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 96.