February 17

Heinrich Heine, the German lyric poet of Jewish birth whose verses were set to song by many composers, died in Paris.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon, the first Hebrew-language writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, died in Jerusalem.

Jovian, who had led the Roman army home after the failed Persian campaign, was found dead in his tent at Dadastana in Asia Minor after a reign of eight months.

Henry Steel Olcott, a Theosophical Society co-founder who became a prominent supporter of the Buddhist revival in Sri Lanka, died in Adyar, India.

The Indonesian scholar and writer Hamka, author of the thirty-volume Tafsir al-Azhar Qur'an commentary, was born in West Sumatra.

Jiddu Krishnamurti, the speaker and thinker who urged inquiry free of tradition and authority, died at Ojai, California.