What are the important events that happened on January 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

January 17: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 17 is the 17^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 4, 2025 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 482,520 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘heptadecagon’ day.

Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 12 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,410 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 17 Historical Events

• 38 BC –
  Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
• 1893 –
  The Citizen’s Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston, overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• 1941 –
  Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive victory over the Royal Thai Navy.
• 1945 –
  Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
• 1945 –
  World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
• 1981 –
  President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
• 1989 –
  Cleveland School massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in Stockton, California, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
• 1994 –
  1994 Northridge earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
• 1995 –
  The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
• 2001 –
  U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis’ rank from Lieutenant to Captain.

Who were born on January 17?

• 1686 –
  Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
• 1732 –
  King Stanislaw II August Poniatowski of Poland (d. 1798)
• 1789 –
  August Neander, German theologian (d. 1850)
• 1882 –
  Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
• 1917 –
  M. G. Ramachandran, Indian politician, actor (d. 1987)
• 1921 –
  Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
• 1931 –
  James Earl Jones, American actor
• 1971 –
  Sylvie Testud, French actress
• 1977 –
  Kevin Fertig, American professional wrestler
• 1985 –
  Simone Simons, Dutch singer (Epica)

Who died on January 17?

• 1826 –
  Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
• 1861 –
  Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
• 1884 –
  Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
• 1903 –
  Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
• 1936 –
  Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
• 1947 –
  Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)
• 1983 –
  Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)
• 2002 –
  Bishop Karas, Sudanese-born American religious leader (b. 1955)
• 2004 –
  Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)
• 2006 –
  Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)