now La Piazza Nonona, a long, large, beautiful street in the heart of Rome, adorned with fountains, and the obelisk of Caracalla, still retaining the form of that circus. The reason of the name Agonalis is either unknown or doubtful. Ovid seems to derive it from the agonēs, or solemn games, there celebrated, supposed to have been the Ludi Apollinares, or Actiaci, instituted by Augustus; whence the circus was called Apollinaris; also Alexandrinus, from the emperor Alexander Severus, who either inclosed or repaired it.