Philocles () was a tragic poet of ancient Greece who lived in the 4th century BCE and was a member of a large, multigenerational theatre dynasty.
He was the great-grandnephew of Aeschylus, great-grandson of Philocles, grandson of Morsimus, son of Astydamas the Elder, and brother of Astydamas the Younger, all of whom were also notable tragic poets.
Philocles himself was also a tragic poet, according to the scholiast on Aristophanes. All of his works are lost. Today we know only the title of a single play of his, Phrixus (æÃÂùþÿÃÂ).
The 19th century classicist proposed an elaborate argument to show that there are no grounds for supposing that this Philocles really was a tragic poet, partly related to the fact that the 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia called the Suda describes this Philocles as a military general. Most scholars do not agree with this position, and believe we ought to accept the statement of the scholiast, and to assume strategos (ÃÂÃÂÃÂñÃÂ÷óÃÂÃÂ, or military general) in the Suda was an error that ought to have read tragikos (ÃÂÃÂñóùúÃÂÃÂ, or tragic poet).