Calendar date · December

What happened on December 17

On December 17, -497: The first Saturnalia festival is celebrated in ancient Rome.

Events

64

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Sagittarius

Featured moment · -497

The first Saturnalia festival is celebrated in ancient Rome.

Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By the 1st century BC, the celebration had been extended until 23 December, for a total of seven days of festivities. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike.

People

Born on December 17

Castello Lukeba 2002– French footballer (born 2002)
Wesley Fofana 2000– French footballer (born 2000)
Holly Humberstone 1999– British singer (born 1999)
Mirei Sasaki 1999– Japanese actress, reporter, and model
Jasmine Armfield 1998– English actress
Martin Ødegaard 1998– Norwegian footballer (born 1998)
Naiktha Bains 1997– Australian-British tennis player (born 1997)
Shoma Uno 1997– Japanese figure skater (born 1997)
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva 1996– Russian figure skater (born 1996)
Show 9 more — notable births on December 17
Guerschon Yabusele 1995– French basketball player (born 1995)
Lloyd Perrett 1994– NZ rugby league footballer
Nat Wolff 1994– American actor, musician, and singer-songwriter
Kiersey Clemons 1993– American actress
Patricia Kú Flores 1993– Peruvian tennis player (born 1993)
Quinton de Kock 1992– South African cricketer (born 1992)
Buddy Hield 1992– Bahamian basketball player (born 1992)
Joshua Ingram 1992– Musical artist
Jordan Rankin 1991– Australian rugby league footballer

People

Died on December 17

Igor Kirillov Russian general (1970–2024)
Marisa Paredes Spanish film actress (1946–2024)
Ronaldo Valdez Filipino actor (1947–2023)
James McCaffrey American actor (1958–2023)
Jeremy Bulloch English actor (1945–2020)
Allen Dines American politician (1921–2020)
Benjamin A. Gilman American politician (1922–2016)
Henry Heimlich American thoracic surgeon (1920–2016)
Gordon Hunt American filmmaker (1929–2016)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 17
Hal Brown American baseball player (1924–2015)
Osamu Hayaishi Japanese biochemist
Michael Wyschogrod German-American philosopher of religion and Jewish theologian (1928-2015)
Dieter Grau American aerospace engineer
Richard C. Hottelet American broadcast journalist (1917-2014)
Oleh Lysheha Ukrainian poet, playwright, translator and intellectual (1949 – 2014)
Lowell Steward Tuskegee Airmen (1919–2014)
Ivan Vekić Croatian politician and lawyer
Fred Bruemmer Latvian Canadian artist (1929-2013)

Timeline

Every December 17 on record

  1. -497 The first Saturnalia festival is celebrated in ancient Rome.

    Ancient Roman festival in December

    Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December in the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities until 19 December. By the 1st century BC, the celebration had been extended until 23 December, for a total of seven days of festivities. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike.

  2. 546 Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Eastern Roman garrison.

    Siege of Rome during the Gothic War

    In 546, Rome was sacked after a year-long siege carried out by the Gothic king Totila during the Gothic War (535–554) between the Ostrogoths (Goths) and the Byzantine Empire. The siege caused severe famine, worsened by corruption among the Byzantine defenders, who hoarded and sold food at inflated prices. Attempts by the general Belisarius to relieve the city failed due to poor coordination and setbacks.

  3. 920 Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.

    Byzantine emperor from 920 to 944

    Romanos I Lakapenos or Lekapenos, Latinized as Romanus I Lacapenus or Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for and senior co-ruler of the young Constantine VII.

  4. 942 Assassination of William I of Normandy.

    Count of Normandy from 927 to 942

    William Longsword was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.

  5. 1297 King Kyawswa of Pagan is overthrown by the three Myinsaing brothers, marking the de facto end of the Pagan Kingdom.

    King of Pagan (r. 1289 to 1297)

    Kyawswa was king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1289 to 1297. Son of the last sovereign king of Pagan Narathihapate, Kyawswa was one of many "kings" that emerged after the collapse of the Pagan Empire in 1287. Though still styled as King of Pagan, Kyawswa's effective rule amounted to just the area around Pagan city.

  6. 1354 Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut and Holy Roman Empress and her son William I, Duke of Bavaria, sign a peace treaty ending the Hook and Cod wars.
  7. 1398 Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
  8. 1538 Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
  9. 1583 Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
  10. 1586 Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
  11. 1665 The first account of a blood transfusion is published, in the form of a letter from physician Richard Lower to chemist Robert Boyle, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
  12. 1718 War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
  13. 1777 American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
  14. 1790 The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.
  15. 1807 Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 17
  1. 1812 War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
  2. 1819 Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
  3. 1835 The second Great Fire of New York destroys 53,000 square metres (13 acres) of New York City's Financial District.
  4. 1837 A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
  5. 1862 American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
  6. 1865 First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
  7. 1892 First issue of Vogue is published.
  8. 1896 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
  9. 1903 The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  10. 1907 Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan.
  11. 1918 Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
  12. 1926 Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
  13. 1927 Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
  14. 1928 Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
  15. 1933 The first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears win 23–21.

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