d. "Batalus" or "Batalos" meant "stammerer" in ancient Greek, but it was also the name of a flute-player (in ridicule of whom Antiphanes wrote a play) and of a songwriter.* D. Hawhee, "Bodily Arts", 156.</ref> The word "batalus" was also used by the Athenians to describe the anus.* M. L. Rose, "The Staff of Oedipus", 57.</ref> In fact the word actually defining his speech defect was "Battalos", signifying someone with rhotacism, but it was crudely misrepresented as "Batalos" by the enemies of Demosthenes and by Plutarch's time the original word had already lost currency. Another nickname of Demosthenes was "Argas." According to Plutarch, this name was given him either for his savage and spiteful behaviour or for his disagreeable way of speaking. "Argas" was a poetical word for a snake, but also the name of a poet.