Proper name: ANA′XILAS or ANAXILA′US (Ἀναξίλας, Ἀναξίλαος), an Athenian comic poet of the middle comedy, contemporary with Plato and Demosthenes, the former of whom he attacked in one of his plays. (Diog. Laert. iii. 28.) We have a few fragments and the titles of nineteen of his comedies, eight of which are on mythological subjects. (Pollux, ii. 29, 34; x. 190; Athen. pp. 95, 171, 374, 416, 655; Meineke; Bode.) (Wikisource | public domain)