Alcaeus was, like Sappho, a lyric poet from the island of Lesbos. He lived in the latter part of the seventh and early part of the sixth century BC. He was a member of the old aristocracy of the island and its capital, Mytilene, and was a bitter opponent of the various low-born dictators who seized power from time to time. He was exiled at least once.
Many of his poems are political.
