Alcaeus was a comic poet from ancient Athens, active in the 4th century BCE. To distinguish him from the earlier lyric poet of the same name, he is often called Alcaeus "the Comic." According to the ancient encyclopedia known as the Suda, he was writing around 348–345 BCE. The Suda also claims he was originally from Mytilene, which would mean he was a resident foreigner in Athens, but this detail is uncertain and may be a confusion with the other Alcaeus. His career falls in the transitional period between Old Comedy and Middle Comedy, when plays began to focus less on direct political satire and more on mythological stories and domestic situations.

None of his plays survive complete; we know them only through titles and fragments mentioned by later writers. Modern scholars typically attribute three comedies to him: Callisto and Ganymede (both based on mythology) and Palaestra (whose title suggests a setting related to wrestling). The Suda lists more plays, but the evidence for these three is strongest.

As a minor figure known only from fragments, Alcaeus represents the many comic playwrights of his era whose work is mostly lost. His use of mythological subjects is typical of Middle Comedy. Although the surviving pieces are brief, they are valuable to scholars for understanding the evolution of comic style, language, and popular themes in the period between the famous playwrights Aristophanes and Menander.