{"id":8220,"date":"2021-12-17T07:06:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T06:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=194450"},"modified":"2021-12-17T07:18:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T06:18:09","slug":"17-december-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/17-december-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"17 December: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Dominic Sandbrook\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 17 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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17 December 497 BC: Romans celebrate the first Saturnalia<\/h3>\n

The agricultural festival gives way to dancing and debauchery<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes described as the Roman inspiration for Christmas, the festival of Saturnalia was first celebrated on 17 December 497 BC, to mark the inauguration of Rome\u2019s new Temple of Saturn.<\/p>\n

In its early years, Saturnalia<\/a> was essentially an agricultural festival, to thank the god Saturn for the bounties of the earth. But a major change came in 217 BC, after Rome\u2019s traumatic defeat by Carthage at the battle of Lake Trasimene. Clearly divine inspiration was needed, and the organisers decided to import religious customs from Greece. So in came large public banquets, sacrifices, dances and public chanting. And over time, it grew ever more elaborate.<\/p>\n

By the first years of the Roman empire, Saturnalia had become a three-day affair, and later it sprawled over seven days. The usual strict formalities were abandoned, people exchanged gifts of dolls and candles, and slaves wore their masters\u2019 clothes. Under the emperor Domitian, there were even gladiatorial games in which women and dwarves took centre stage. \u201cDuring my week,\u201d says Saturn in a poem by the second-century writer Lucian, \u201cthe serious is barred: no business allowed. Drinking and being drunk, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping\u2026 an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water \u2013 such are the functions over which I preside.\u201d<\/p>\n

So is Christmas partly a disguised Saturnalia? Perhaps. Feasting, drinking and presents all sound very familiar!<\/p>\n

Julian Humphrys rounds up smaller anniversaries<\/h4>\n

17 December 1362\u00a0<\/h6>\n

Henry le Despenser was ordained a priest. Eight years later he was appointed bishop of Norwich. Known as the Fighting Bishop, Despenser helped suppress the Peasants\u2019 Revolt<\/a> and was victorious at the battle of North Walsham in 1381.<\/p>\n

17 December 1559<\/h6>\n

Matthew Parker was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He had been elected in August but the upheavals surrounding Elizabeth\u2019s accession had made it difficult to find the four bishops needed to consecrate him.<\/p>\n

17 December 1631<\/h6>\n

Stuart lawyer Sir Thomas Fanshawe died in London\u2019s Inner Temple. As surveyor-general to Charles I<\/a>, Fanshawe had been closely involved in the attempts to improve the king\u2019s revenues, notably through the financial exploitation of royal forests.<\/p>\n

17 December 1830<\/h6>\n

Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis at Santa Marta, Columbia, aged 47. Bolivar had played a key role in Latin America\u2019s successful bid for independence from Spain, and served as president of Gran Columbia from 1819 until shortly before his death.<\/p>\n

17 December 1967\u00a0<\/h6>\n

The Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming off the coast of Victoria.<\/p>\n

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17 December 1903: The Wright brothers fly into history<\/a><\/h3>\n

The \u2018impossible\u2019 is achieved<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the North Carolina coast, Thursday 17 December 1903 was a cold and very windy day. When Orville and Wilbur Wright awoke that morning, they thought it was almost perfect. Three days earlier, after years of trials, they had tried to get their primitive powered \u2018airplane\u2019, with its 40ft wingspan, into the air. But no sooner had Wilbur got it off the ground, than the aircraft stalled and plunged back down into the sand. Now it was Orville\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n

By conventional standards the two men made implausible historical icons. Born in 1867 and 1871 respectively \u2013 the sons of an evangelical Christian clergyman \u2013 the story goes that they were first smitten by the principle of flight when their father bought them a helicopter toy. After working as commercial printers, the pair opened a bicycle shop, capitalising on the craze for cycles but all the time tinkering with schemes to get an aircraft into the sky.<\/p>\n

Just after 10.30am, Orville climbed into the Flyer. Disappointingly, his diary fails to capture the excitement he must have felt. \u201cThe wind, according to our anemometers at this time, was blowing a little over 20 miles, 27 miles according to the government anemometer at Kitty Hawk,\u201d he wrote. \u201cOn slipping the rope the machine started off increasing in speed to probably seven or eight miles. The machine lifted from the truck just as it was entering on the fourth rail. Mr Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks\u2026 A sudden dart when out about 100 feet from the end of the tracks ended the flight. Time about 12 seconds (not known exactly as watch was not promptly stopped).\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first of four flights made that day, each longer than the one before. On the fourth trial, Wilbur guided the world\u2019s first plane through the air for a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds. For the first time, mankind had the power of flight. It was a genuinely extraordinary moment.<\/p>\n

Browse more On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n