Euboulos' Ankylion and the Game of Kottabos

Euboulos' "Ankylion" is represented by only four fragments (frr. 1-3KA = frr. 1-4 Hunter), all culled from Athenaeus, which tells us nothing about the plot of the play or about the identity of its titular character. R.L. Hunter, in his recent commentary on Eubolus, discusses at length the name "Ankylion"1 and concludes that it could belong to either (1) a humble and poor man;2 (2) "a character from folklore notorious for sexual relations with his mother";3 or (3) "a wily slave such as those foreshadowed in Aristophanes and familiar from New Comedy".4 In view of our ignorance of the play's plot, each of these possibilities has an equal claim to our consideration. I believe, however, that the context in which the fragments are embedded in Athananeus allows us to refine our understanding of the name even further.