Achaeus of Eretria

Achaeus of Eretria (b. 480s BC) was an Athenian playwright of tragedies and satires, variously said to have written 24, 30, or 44 plays, of which 19 titles are known.

His first play was produced in 447 BC and won a victory. A quote in Aristophanes' The Frogs suggests he was dead by 405 BC.

The philosopher Menedemus thought his plays second only to Aeschylus, he was part of the Alexandrian Canon, and Didymus wrote a commentary on him. Athenaeus (10.451c) describes him as having a lucid style, but with tendencies to obscurity. Athenaeus also claimed that Euripides took a line from Achaeus, while Aristophanes quotes him twice, in the The Frogs and The Wasps.