Athenaeus of Naucratis was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian active in the late second and early third centuries CE. A native of Naucratis in Egypt, he spent considerable time in Rome, moving within the learned, cosmopolitan circles characteristic of the Second Sophistic. His life is known primarily from his own work, the Deipnosophistae (The Learned Banqueters), where he appears as a narrator and describes associating with patrons like Larensis.

His sole surviving work is the Deipnosophistae, a lengthy text in fifteen books preserved in an epitome. It is structured as an account of a multi-day banquet where guests discuss a wide range of subjects. The Deipnosophistae is an invaluable scholarly resource. It preserves fragments from over 1,250 now-lost Greek authors, including poetry, comedy, and historical works, offering a critical window into ancient literary culture and social customs.