Agnano (a˙-nyä′nō), until 1870 a lake of Italy, west of Naples, occupying probably the crater of an extinct volcano, but now drained.
Ag′nates, in the civil law, relations on the male side, in opposition to cognates, relations on the female side.
Agnello Pass, see European War.
Agnes, St., a virgin martyr who, according to the story, suffered martyrdom because she steadfastly refused to marry Sempronius, the prefect of Rome, and adhered to her religion in spite of repeated temptations and threats, A.D. 303. She was first led to the stake, but as the flames did not injure her she was beheaded. Her festival is celebrated on 21st Jan. For superstitions connected with St. Agnes' Eve see Keats's poem The Eve of St. Agnes. Tintoret's most remarkable picture is The Martyrdom of St. Agnes.
Agnes, St., the most southerly of the Scilly Islands. A lighthouse was erected here as early as 1680; another on the Wolf Rock near the island was completed in 1858.
Agnesi (a˙-nyā′sē), Maria Gaetana, a learned
Italian lady, born at Milan in 1718. In her ninth year she was able to speak Latin, in her eleventh Greek; she then studied the oriental languages, and at the age of thirteen mastered Hebrew, besides French, Spanish, and German. She was called the 'Walking Polyglot'. She next studied geometry, philosophy, and mathematics. She was appointed, in 1750, professor of mathematics in the University of Bologna, ultimately took the veil, and died in 1799. Her sister, Maria Theresa, composed several cantatas and three operas.
Ag′ni, the Hindu god of fire, second only to Indra, and one of the eight guardians of the world, and especially the lord of the south-east quarter. He is celebrated in many of the hymns of the Rig Veda. He is often represented as of a red or flame colour, and rides on a ram or a goat. He is still worshipped as the personification of fire, and the friction of two sticks for procuring the temple fire is still regarded as the symbol of Agni's miraculous rebirth.
Agnœtæ, a monophysitic sect of the sixth century.