Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Alcaeus 4.

by Various Authors

ALCAEUS (Ἀλκαῖος), the son of Miccus, was a native of Mytilene, according to Suidas, who may, however, have confounded him in this point with the lyric poet. He is found exhibiting at Athens as a poet of the old comedy, or rather of that mixed comedy, which formed the transition between the old and the middle. In B. C. 388, he brought forward a play entitled Πασιφάη, in the same contest in which Aristophanes exhibited his second Plutus, but, if the meaning of Suidas is rightly understood, he obtained only the fifth place. He left ten plays, of which some fragments remain, and the following titles are known, Ἀδελφαί μοιχευομέναι, Γανυμήδης, Ἐνδυμίων, Ἱερὸς γάμος, Καλλιστῶ, Κωμῳδοτραγῳδία, Παλαῖστρα.

Alcaeus, a tragic poet, mentioned by Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec, ii. p. 282), does not appear to be a different person from Alcaeus the comedian. The mistake of calling him a tragic poet arose simply from an erroneous reading of the title of his "Comoedo-tragoedia."

(The Greek Argument to the Plutus; Suidas, s. v. ; Pollux, x. 1; Casaubon on Athen. iii. p. 206; Meineke, Fragm. Comic. Graec, i. p. 244, ii. p. 824; Bode, Geschichte der Dramatischen Dichtkunst der Hellenen, ii. p. 386.)
[P. S.]