Sotades of Maroneia the Elder was a Hellenistic poet of the 3rd century BCE, active at the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Alexandria. He is notorious for his obscene and scurrilous verse, composed in a distinctive meter later named "Sotadean" after him. Ancient accounts report that Ptolemy II ordered him sealed in a lead chest and drowned for composing insulting verses, notably one mocking the king's marriage to his sister Arsinoe II.

His works survive only in fragments. He is credited with inventing the Sotadean meter, an ionic verse form used for coarse satire. The Byzantine Suda encyclopedia attributes to him poems called Kinaidoi, meaning licentious songs, and Ionia, likely poems in the Ionic dialect or meter.

Sotades is significant for his influence on poetic meter and as a representative of abusive, iambic-style poetry in the Hellenistic period. His eponymous verse became proverbial for vulgar satire. His legendary execution made him a symbol of the dangers faced by satirists who offended autocratic rulers, continuing the iambic invective tradition within the context of Hellenistic monarchy.