Sotades of Maroneia was a Hellenistic Greek poet of the 3rd century BCE, active at the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Alexandria. Ancient sources report that his offensive verse provoked the king’s anger, leading to his imprisonment and, according to a later tradition recorded by Plutarch, his execution by being sealed in a leaden jar and cast into the sea.

He is credited with inventing the “Sotadean” verse, an ionic meter used for coarse and satirical poetry. His works survive only in fragments. He is most famously reported to have written a poem mocking Ptolemy II’s marriage to his sister Arsinoe II, which directly caused his persecution.

Sotades is the chief representative of “cinædic” poetry, a distinct genre of obscene and subversive satire. His fatal confrontation with Ptolemy II became a paradigmatic anecdote about the risks of criticizing autocratic power. The Sotadean meter itself endured, employed by later poets including the Roman Ennius.