UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY* A Abstract: combined historical scientific and is to approach applied ancient reports be convention(UFOs).

Many today called unidentified objects ofwhat might flying can a residue puzzling out, allyexplicable phenomena be weeded leaving small of into same These neatly the as UFO reports. fall categoriesmodern reports, suggesting the it that UFO phenomenon, whatevermay dueto,hasnotchanged be much over two millennia.

call unidentified flying objectshave been made and preserved. If more information were available to us, we would perhaps find that conventional scientifichypotheses could explain most, if not all of these.' Certainlythis has turned out to be true of most reportsfrombetter-documented periods. There nonethelessremains a small residue of puzzling accounts, and regardless of what interpretationone places on them,these constitutea phenomenon that cultures. spans centuriesof timeand widely different What may surprise the serious student of the subject is that, despite the numerous articlesand books published by scientistson UFOs over the past six decades, almost no scholarlystudies of the has veryearlyhistoryof the phenomenonhave appeared. What little Donald been accomplished was initiatedin 1953 by the astronomer of Menzel's naturalisticinterpretation reports in Pliny the Elder's NaturalHistory.2 Menzel's study, however, proved superficial,and had the unfortunateconsequence of inducing UFO enthusiaststo compile long, uncriticallists of all kinds of phenomena seen in the ancientskies and call themUFOs.3 Their methodologywas roundly

recorded of hroughout reports whatwe todaymight history,

*I withJ.Allen Hynek manyyears ago, conversation acknowledge an interesting and record also my indebtedness to the Columbia Universitylibrariesand the New York Public Library.The final formof this paper owes much to the extensive and criticalsuggestionsof S. Douglas Olson and two anonymousreferees. 1Mythologicaland biblical literature been repeatedlyransackedforevidence has exof UFOs; see, e.g., Jessup(1956); Le Poer Trench(1960). Skeptical views were first Menzel (1953) 124-34,and thepsychologist (1958) 79-84. Jung pressedbytheastronomer 2 Menzel (1953) 118-19. 3 Wilkins(1954) 163-74; Drake (1977). Other popularizing authorshave generally Wilkinsand Drake. or followed,directly indirectly,

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criticizedin the 1968 Condon Reportby Samuel Rosenberg,who did not,however, attempta freshstartby trackingdown and analyzing the primarysources themselves.Richard Wittmann, ignoringthese but also more restricted authors,produced in 1968 a more scholarly, study of ancient "flyingshields." The subject has languished since 1971 and 1975, when Peter Bicknell published two cautious articles in whichUFOs were treatedonlyincidentally.4 The most liberal attitudewould allow that,to an ancient observer, many aerial phenomena were mysteriousand hence to some extentunidentified, despite the observer'sabilityto describethemin familiarsubjectivetermsand despite ancient attemptsat theorizing about theirnature.Today we can filter the most obvious cases of out conventionalphenomena,in spite of the archaicterminology used to describethem.The approach adopted here will be to search foraerial thatlook likemodern phenomena in themorereliableancientreports of UFOs, but without ignoringother manifestations "strangeness." will be that most such reports can be My working hypothesis ideas and that,among all the explained by conventionalscientific after full anareports,only those thatdefyreasonable interpretation lysiscan be said to resemblethe mostpuzzling reportsmade today.5 Preliminary screeningis relativelyeasy, thanks to a number of studies of sky phenomena reportedin classical antiquity,most famously solar and lunar eclipses, whose reportedtimesand paths can be compared with modern calculations,and comets and new stars (novae), which can be checked against independentobservationsby Chinese imperialcourtastronomers. Aurorae too have been inferred fromGreek and Roman reportsof "chasms," "sky fire,""nightsuns" and the like; statisticalanalyses of the times of occurrenceof these phenomena during the well-documented interval223-91 BC show of agreementwith the modern auroral periodicity about 11 years,as well as with the modern clustering into two temporal peaks within auroral cycles. Even rare phenomena such as the aerial lights that in occasionally accompany earthquakescan be identified some cases. Afterlarge volcanic eruptions,the sun fora few years appears dim, red and sometimeshaloed on account of aerosols injected into the these optical phenomena too crop up in ancientreports stratosphere; and can be correlatedwith modern measurementsof aerosol fallout in dated polar ice cores.6Mock suns and mock moons have not been
Wittmann (1968); Rosenberg(1969); Bicknell(1971) and (1975). ' Modern UFO cases date from a 1945-1947,when a wave of sightingstriggered media frenzy. Vallee (1965) has discussed a numberof similarcases fromthe 19th and his early20th centuries; collectionwas foreshadowedby thework of Fort(1941). 6 (1984); Stephenson(1997). Eclipses: Ginzel (1899); Boll (1909); Schove and Fletcher Comets: Gundel (1921); Barrett(1978); Ramsey (2006). New stars: Stothers(1977).
4

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recorded and tend to systematically cataloged, but are infrequently be obvious, owing to theircharacteristic appearance in pairs. This leaves unusual fireballs,daytime and nighttime disks and the like, and rains of various material, ofwhich requirefurther all analysis. For presentationpurposes, I group the ancient reportsin four (but omitcategoriesas definedby Hynek formodernUFO sightings radar detections),althoughI have combined Hynek's Nocturnal ting which I call Distant Lightsand DaylightDisks into a single category, Encounters.I have accepted as separate categorieshis Close Encounters of the First,Second and Third Kinds, which are differentiated according to proximity,material remains and the presence of "occupants."'7 A briefdescriptionof modern UFO sightingsmay be helpfulat this point.8Although UFOs vary in morphologyand behavior, consistentpatternshave emerged.At close range,UFOs appear as disks or otherextended objects,including verticalcylindersenveloped in "clouds" and associated withsmallerdisks.Depending on theviewing angles, their intrinsicshapes mightbe similar or even identical: a disk seen face-onlooks circular,although edge-on it looks elliptical or oblong. Colors in the daytimeare usually described as silveryor gray, and in the night as resembling red or multicolored lights. Estimated dimensions range fromabout one meterto hundreds of UFOs are usually meters,with the scatterbeing probably intrinsic. said to be noiseless. They are seen in the air or on the ground,hoveror ing or stationary, moving across the sky in a continuous fashion, Sometimestheysuddenly appear or vanish. even iferratically. A. DistantEncounters Ideally, ancient Distant Encounters would be separated into and daytimecategories,but this is possible in only a few nighttime instances.I have insteaddesignatedtwo objectivesubgroups,depending on whether the objects are described in militarylanguage, as types of "flyingarmaments,"or in meteorologicaland astronomical
Solow(2005). Stothers Aurorae: Stothers (2004). (1979a)and(1979b); Earthquake lights: and Hammeret al. (1980);Stothers Rampino Volcaniceffects the atmosphere: on listsare a methods (2002).Scientific (1983);Stothers prodigy appliedto theancient controls. of new relatively weaponinthearsenal textual 7 (1972)is theonlyclassification familiarity, system having widespread Hynek's whichhe continually and thisis just as well, sinceVallee's (1965) earlier system, ancient for is refined, tooelaborate use inthecaseoftherelatively simple reports. 8 and discerned discussed theVallees summarizes patterns the by Mydescription of luminous (1972).A convenient (1965),(1966)and (1990);Hynek summary known can at caseshavebeencompared be found with which these puzzling skyphenomena Altschuler (1969).

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language, as various kinds of "fieryglobes." Withineach subgroup theincidentsare treatedin chronologicalorder. Armaments Flying Most reports of flyingarmaments come from Livy's prodigy lists,which fortheyears precedingca. 123 BC were derived (perhaps MaxifromtheAnnalesMaximipublished by the Pontifex indirectly) and costlyprocedures mus of Rome. In view of the time-consuming required by the Roman authoritiesto investigatewitnesses, verify claims and physicalevidence,and expiate themore unusual portents, most modern scholars who have troubled to analyze the prodigy lists have come to regard them as trustworthy and accurate.9The unavoidable limitationsare that the reportingarea is restricted to centralItaly,while the numberof reportstends to mirror prevailing the social conditions;regrettably, reportsare always very terse.The reflects the most advanced technologyknown military terminology at the time,a tendencyfound also in modern UFO reports, which in a witness gropes fora familiartechnicalvocabulary-and perhaps a rationalization-to describe an unaccountable phenomenon. That many reportswere made during wartimemay partiallyexplain the military terminology. The followingthreereportswere made under the considerable pressure of the Second Punic War, when prodigies were most likely than usual. The observersare and carefully sought more frequently unknown,but were probably many in number,which may account forthe spike in prodigy reportsat this time. No compelling reason exists to infer an epidemic of mass hallucination in central Italy, and even hysterialthoughLivy did note a measure of mass hysteria, cal contagion,among the populace because of the looming Carthaginian threat.10 * At Rome in the winter of 218 BC "a spectacle of ships (navium) gleamed in the sky" (Liv. 21.62.4). FranklinKrauss, for lack of an alternativeexplanation,speculated that the "ships" were clouds or mirages, although suggestive cloud formationshad been longunderstood,familiar features.11
See n. 6, above; Krauss (1930). not escape the shrewd noticeof Liv. 21.62.1 and 24.10.6 thatthe increased number of prodigy reportsgenerated at this time was a sociological consequence of the many reportsthat had already been made and publicized, as well as a psychological product of fear caused by the war with Carthage. Although Livy voiced about some of these reports, did not specify he which ones he doubted. skepticism " Krauss (1930) 79. Cloud formswhen imaginatively were generally interpreted to Ar. recognizedin antiquity be psychologicalprojections: Nu. 346-57; Lucr. 4.129-42; Cic. Div. 2.49; Theophanes ConfessorAM 5870.
9

10 It did

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* In 217 BC "at Arpi round shields (parmas)were seen in the sky" (Liv. 22.1.9; Orosius 4.15). A parmawas a small round shield made partlyor wholly of iron,bronze or anothermetal; we do not know whetherthe luster of these devices (and not just their shape) was intended to be an element of the description.Mock suns are an unlikely explanation, since in the Roman prodigy lists these were described as "double suns" or "triplesuns" (i.e. two mock routinely suns on eitherside ofthe real one). * In 212 BC "at Reate a huge stone (saxum) was seen flyingabout" (Liv. 25.7.8). The implication would seem to be that the object in question was a stony gray color; that it is said to have moved leaves open the possibilitythat the object Livy (volitare) irregularly describeswas a bird or some kind ofairbornedebris. Sporadic reportsof similar objects continueto appear afterthis in the Roman prodigy lists. The immediate sources are again Livy and his extractors Pliny,Plutarch, Obsequens and Orosius: * In 173 BC "at Lanuvium a spectacleof a greatfleetwas said to have been seen in the sky" (Liv. 42.2.4). * In 154 BC "at Compsa weapons (arma)appeared flying the sky" in (Obsequens 17). The term refersto defensive weapons, especially shields. * In 104 BC "the people of Ameria and Tuder observed weapons in the sky rushing togetherfromeast and west, those fromthe west being routed." Thus Pliny (Nat. 2.148) who uses the term arma; Obsequens' (43) version is essentiallythe same. Plutarch(Mar. 17.4) calls the weapons "flamingspears and oblong shields," but may be merelyglossing and expanding; since he noted the time as night,the phenomenon in question mightbe the streamersof an aurora borealis. * In 100 BC,probablyat Rome, "a round shield (clipeus), burningand emittingsparks, ran across the sky fromwest to east, at sunset." Thus Pliny (Nat. 2.100), althoughObsequens (45) called thephenomenon "a circularobject,like a round shield." The clipeuswas a round shield similar to the parma,but bigger. Seneca (Nat. 1.1.15; 7.20.2), quoting Posidonius (1st century BC), referredto a class of clipei flagrantes, saying that they persisted longer than shooting stars.12
12 Possibly related to these are the disceuscomets, which displayed electrumcolored disks surroundedby scatteredrays; see Plin. Nat. 2.89; Avienus in Serv. Aen. ad 10.272; Campestris in Scholiast to Luc. ad 1.529 and in Lyd. Ost. 15; Apuleius in Lyd. Ost. 10; Mens. 4.71; Heph. Astr. 1.24. See also Fuhr (1982) on the Typhon comet, which was twistedlike a red coil (Plin. Nat. 2.91).

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Nothing in the ancient reportsforbids that these were spectacular which move across the sky more slowly bolides (meteoricfireballs), than ordinary shooting stars, but enormously fasterthan genuine comets,which are seen fordays or weeks.13 * In 43 BC at Rome "a spectacle of defensiveand offensive weapons the was seen to rise from earthto the sky (armorum species) telorumque with a clashing noise."14It might be possible to visualize in this reporta bolide explodingwhile risingabove thehorizon. * Historically, the most famous "sky army" appeared in the spring of ca. AD 65 over Judea.The historian Josephusreports: there On the21st themonth of Artemisium, phenoappeareda miraculous Indeed,whatI am aboutto relate menon, would,I imagine, passingbelief. the of havebeendeemeda fable, wereitnotfor narratives eyewitnesses and the subsequent whichdeservedto be so signalized. calamities For,before chariots wereseenin theairand sunset all throughout partsofthecountry, armed battalions the the through cloudsand encompassing cities."5 hurtling Although Josephusprobably viewed this phenomenon himselfand apparentlydid researchon it,he appeals to eyewitnessaccounts to The phenomenon does not seem to have been bolsterhis credibility. an aurora, cloud patternsor meteors,but does resemble the "aerial of fighting" modernUFOs. Globes Fiery * The first clusterof reportsof fieryglobes falls during the Second Punic War. Livy reportsthatin 217 BC "at Capena two moons rose in thedaytime... and at Capua a kindofmoon fellduringa rainstorm."16 The Capuan "moon" may have been a manifestation ball lightning, of but the "two moons" at Capena most likelywere not. Mock moons are seen only at nightwhen thereal moon is verybright, a bolide but seen together with the real moon in the daytime,or a bolide split in two,is a possibility.
13For modernbolides, see Nininger(1952).
14 15

Obsequens 69; D.C. 47.2.3;possibly also Verg.Aen.8.527-9. J. BJ 6.5.3 (translationby H. Thackeray); Tac. Hist. 5.13.2. Silverman (1998) discountenances a rare daytime aurora, which would be quite faint.Compare the imagerywith thatin 2 Kings 2:11; Zechariah 6:1-8; Verg. Aen. 8.528-9. Other military ancientreportsof celestialarmies seem too vague, illusionaryor likelyapocryphalto meritdiscussion: Jason of Cyrene in 2 Maccabees 5:1-4 (cf. 2:21); App. Mith. 12.27; Obsequens 56; D.C. 51.17.4;56.24.3-4; Hdn. 8.3.8-9; Nazarius 10.14. 16 Liv. 22.1.10-12; Orosius 4.15. Three moons appeared simultaneouslyin 223 BC and in 122 BC,and probablyconsisted of two mock moons on eitherside of the real statedto have been night:Plin. Nat. 2.99; Plu. moon, althoughthe timeis not explicitly Marc.4.1; Orosius 4.13; Obsequens 32; Apuleius in Lyd. Ost. 4; Zonaras 8.20.

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* Seneca (Nat. 1.1.2; 7.15.1) gives two examples from the eastern In Mediterranean. 168 BC,when L. Aemilius Paullus was waging war against King Perseus of Macedon, "a ball ... was the formof a fire thatappeared, as large as the moon." This could have been a bolide. * A more complicatedobjectmade itsappearance sometimebetween 151 and 146 BC: ... After deathofKingDemetrius Syria, a little the of before Achaean the War, a comet blazed out,notinferior thesun.At first was a fiery disk,17 to it red a so that the little little, its Then, emitting light bright it dissipated night. by size dwindled itsbrightness and at died completely. faded; lastthelight Since the objectwas seen formorethan a moment(as indicatedby its it designation as a cometes), was probably not ball lightningor a bolide; it also seems to have been too brightto have been the former, and too stationary have been the latter.Nor could it have been an to instanceof"nightsun" (sol noctu), definedby Plinyas creating diffuse in the nighttime and interpreted today as an aurora.18 light sky * Two parallel recordsof91 BCpreservedby Livy's extractors Orosius Over the cityof Rome "about and Obsequens refer centralItaly.19 to sunrise a ball of fire shone forthfromthe northernregion with a loud noise in the sky." The sonic boom indicates thatthis was probas thanball lightning Bicknellsuggested. ably a bolide, rather * The same year,a much stranger objectwas noticednear Spoletium: Romans a journey a gold-colored rolldown on saw ball several Furthermore, after it from skyto theearth; the growing larger, was seento riseupward the the the sun toward rising andtoblock sunitself itssize. by againfrom earth But outside of highBicknell proposed that this was ball lightning. altitudestormclouds, ball lightning averages only23 cm. in diameter, and the description suggests something much larger than this. Although the reported vertical motion, drawn-out duration and in obserprevailingsunnyweatherare not unheard-of ball lightning makes this vations, the combination of improbable characteristics appears explanation unattractive.The object's apparent trajectory of with the approach, overhead passage and retreat more consistent a bolide. On the otherhand, an actual landing on or near the ground is strongly indicated.
17 to Contrary Ramsey (2006) 79-81, the color indicatesthatit was not a genuine, whitecomet;see also Sen. Nat. 1.15.2. 18 Plin. Nat. 2.100; Stothers (1979a) 94-5. 19 Orosius 5.18; Obsequens 54. See also Bicknell (1971) 13-16 and (1975) 286-8. Ball lightning describedby Smirnov(1993). is

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* Pliny (Nat. 2.100) also reportsan incidentthatat first glance looks like theprecedingone, but occurredat night: A sparkwas seento fallfrom starand to growas itapproached earth; a the after had becomeas largeas themoon, it was diffused aroundas if all light on a cloudyday;then, to the intoa torch. retreating thesky, object changed Thisis recorded have occurred to withhis onlyonce:Silanustheproconsul retinue it,intheconsulship GnaeusOctavius GaiusScribonius. saw of and M. JuniusSilanus was governorof the provinceof Asia in 76 BC,and the incident probably took place there.Silanus' testimony receives indirectsupport froman allusion by Lydus (Ost. 6) to several later occurrencesof the same phenomenon,althoughwithoutreference to a torch.The size, brightness and transienceof the object at its maximum seem to rule out a comet or a new star (nova), interpretations But Bicknell's prosuggested by Barrettand Hertzog, respectively. of ball lightningalso founders on the object's change into a posal torch.Wittmannhas postulated a complex UFO encounter, but this explanation seems unnecessary.Since no landing of the object was it the reported, is simplestand most naturalto interpret event as the overhead passage of a bolide leaving a luminous train.20 * It is not until four centuries later that the next report in this categoryis found: At Antioch, thedaytime, starwas seen toward eastern in a the partofthe smokecopiously iffrom furnace, as a from third the hourto sky,emitting thefifth hour.21 This occurredca. AD 334, and was recordedby a Byzantineannalist, Theophanes Confessor,writingfive centuries after the event and using unknown sources. The one-day,two-hourdurationof the phenomenon is much too shortfor a comet,despite the suggestions of Barrett, Mango and Scott,and Ramsey,while the smokingtrailof a bolide would have appeared most unstarlike, being elongated, and graduallydissipative.22 irregular,
Wittmann (1968) 225; Bicknell(1971) 14-15 and (1987) 163-4; Barrett (1978) 93-4; (1987) 211-13. Hertzog (1986) 114-15; Huang (1987) 216; Stothers 21 Theophanes Confessor AM 5826; Barrett(1978) 103; Mango and Scott (1997) 49-50; Ramsey (2006) 173-5. Cf. Revelation9:1-2. This astermay be the same object as the comet mentionedby Eutropius 10.8 and Aurelius Victor41 as having appeared beforethe death of Constantine. 22 Two otherdated reliable reportsof mysterious fiery globes are not sufficiently to be worthdiscussing here: one in 323 BC,Ps.-Callisth.3.33 (cf.JuliusValerius 3.90); and the otherin AD 363, Epitome Caesaribus (cf.Amm. Marc. 25.2.4-8). A fiery De 43 pillar appeared near Athensin 404 BCon a moonless,stormy nightand was possibly a
20

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Hynek defineda Close Encounterof the FirstKind as an observation at close range of a UFO thatfailsto interact with the observer and does not leave a physical trace.By this definition, "fiery the red disk" of ca. 150 BC and the "gold-colored ball" of 91 BC mightbe consideredborderlineexamples. * A more characteristic example occurredin 74 BC,when a Roman army under L. Licinius Lucullus was about to engage the forcesof VI King Mithridates of Pontus. Accordingto Plutarch: ... but Butpresently, withno apparent changeofweather, all on a sudden, was seentofallbetween theskyburst and asunder, a huge,flame-like body In thetwo armies. shape,it was mostlikea wine-jar and (pithoi), in color, likemolten Bothsides were astonished thesight, at silver. and separated. in at Thismarvel, they occurred Phrygia, a placecalledOtryae.23 as say, The presence of thousands of witnesses, including Lucullus and vouches for the incident's occurrence.The termpithos Mithridates, was routinely to applied by ancientmeteorologists any large barrelshaped, smoky celestial fire,according to Posidonius.24Could the The brightsilverycolor might objectof 74 BC have been a meteorite? describe the incandescence of the object while falling,but freshly fallen meteoritesare black, and Plutarchmakes no mentionof any noise, let alone an impact. The object must have measured much more than a meteracross, since it was easily resolved at a distance greaterthan half the range of a bowshot. If it had remained on the of ground,a meteorite such size would doubtlesshave become a cult yet object in Phrygia,with its long traditionof meteoriteworship,25 to later historical records referring Phrygian meteoritesare silent about it. In modernexperience,an episode like thiswould easily fall under the rubricof a classic UFO encounter.But we cannot rule out thefallof a bolide. * A fourthincident is known from a biography of St. Anthony, by probably written Athanasius,bishop of Alexandria, followinga The date was personal interviewwith the witness years afterward. ca. AD 285, in or near the Fayiimin the Egyptiandesert.Anthonysaw
luminescenttornado: Clem. Al. Strom.1.24 (cf. Exodus 13:21-2; 14:24). Other dated (1979a). fiery pillars and beams were probablyauroral displays: Stothers 23Plu. Luc. 8.5-7 (trans.by B. Perrin). 24 [Arist.] Mu. 395b12;Man. 1.842-3; Sen. Nat. 1.14.1; 1.15.2-4; Plin. Nat. 2.90; Ptol. Tetr.2.9; Alex. Aphr. in Mete.ad 344a5;Origenes Cels. 1.58; ArrianusMeteorologicusin Stob. 1.28.2;Phlp. in Mete.ad 344'16; Apuleius in Lyd. Ost. 10a; Mens. 3.41; 4.71. 25 Cults were associated with several reputed falls of stones in this part of the world,includingTroy,Pessinus, Cyzicus,Abydus, Ephesus and Aegospotami.

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on the desertfloora largesilverdisk thatsuddenlyvanishedlike in the is into smoke.26 Although encounter introduced thebiography is factual a straightforward, way, thebiography notedforits relithe and mayhavebeen a giousvisions, evenifauthentic, apparition desert mirage. Kind Encountersthe C. Close of Second of no literature contains record a UFO-like Ancient a physical trace. a into an imprint thegroundor depositing material objectpressing material wereoccasionresidue. theother On hand,rainsofstrange in UFO research and allyreported, sinceanalogousreports modern and ancient well-documented verified, whensufficiently areaccepted In evidence. examplesare citedherein theabsenceof moredirect substance dubbed"angelhair" a whitish modern reports, gossamer a is said on rareoccasionsto have droppedfrom UFO and someIn on contact withtheground. other times have vanished to quickly are takeoff from ground, the by reports, glassyfibers left a UFO after substance remains.27 ora chalky * An ancient pickedup at Rome sampleof"angelhair"was perhaps inAD196bythehistorian CassiusDio, whowrites:
A finerain resemblingsilver descended froma clear sky upon the Forum of

a In Hynek's system, Close Encounterof the Second Kind leaves

I see but it it Augustus. did not,it is true, it as it was falling, noticed after and had fallen, by meansofit I platedsomebronzecoinswithsilver; they for retained same appearance three the days,butby thefourth all the day substance rubbed them disappeared.28 on had Other falls in which a solid whitishsubstance was involved include two "rains of chalk," one at Cales in 214 BC and anotherat Rome in 98 BC. No otherinformation offeredabout the physical nature of is thischalk.29

26 [Athanasius] VitaAntonii Mirages 11. werea familiar to phenomenon those in African D.S. deserts: 3.50.4-51.5; Tert. Adversus Marcionem A 3.24. living theNorth desert-dweller Anthony like wouldcertainly beenawareofsuchan effect. have 27 See the booksbytheVallees(1965), (1966)and(1990). 28 D.C. 75.4.7. "rainofsilver" The Aurelian's mentioned (AD during reign 270-5), alluded to thatemperor's reform the of by GeorgiusMonachus3.168,probably silver later the imperial coinage, although annalists interpreted rainliterally. 29 Liv. 24.10.7; Obsequens47; August.C.D. 3.31. Rains of "wool" were also Liv. Plin.Nat.2.147;Obsequens12,52; Orosius7.32;Jerome Chronica reported: 42.2.4; AA 2383;Lyd.Ost.6.

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D. Close Kind Encountersthe of Third

A Close EncounteroftheThirdKind involvesa UFO seen in associationwith an occupant,usually describedas human or humanoid. * According to Livy, in 214 BC "at Hadria an altar was seen in the sky; around it were formsof men dressed in shining white." The natureof the altar (ara) is not specified.But fouryears earlier,"in the districtof Amiternum,in many places, forms of men dressed in shining white were seen at a distance; they did not approach anyone."30Except forthis report,entitiesunassociated with a UFO will not be a subject of investigation here, as problems of identification and verification present insurmountableobstacles even in modern cases, as Hynek and others have shown. The incident of 214 BC recalls the classic observation of UFO occunonetheless strikingly on a hovering, overhead craftseen by Father Gill and his pants companionsin 1959 off Papua New Guinea.31 * The last encounteris again fromthe earlyChristianhagiographical literature and took place near the Via Campana between Rome and Capua ca. AD 150. On a sunny day, a "beast" like a piece of pottery about 100 feetin size, multicoloredon top and shootingout (ceramos) fieryrays,landed in a dust cloud, accompanied by a "maiden" clad in white.32 There was only one witness to the event,probably Hermas thebrother Pope Pius I. of

Conclusions
This collectionof what mightbe termedancientUFO reportshas been culled froma much largernumber of reportsof aerial objects, with known phenomena are eithercermost of whose identifications tain or at least highlyprobable. Embedded in the mass of relatively however,is a small set of unexplained (or explicable ancientreports, at least not wholly explained) reportsfrompresumablycrediblewitessential features nesses. If these reportsare examined statistically, ofwhat I will,forargument'ssake, call theancientUFO phenomenon can be extracted: * shape-discoidal or spheroidal; * color-silvery,golden or red; * texture-metallic occasionally,glowing or cloudy; or,
Liv. 21.62.5;24.10.10.See also n. 10, above. 30 Vallee (1965) 145-8; Hynek (1972) 167-72; Herbison-Evans(1977). 32 [Hermas] Shepherd Hermas,Vision 4.1-3. Cf. Exodus 3:2-6; Job 41:19-21; of 1:13; Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12-14; 10:1-22; 11:22-4. Hermas' experienceresembles Jeremiah the Miracle of Fatima incident in 1917, which Vallee (1965) 148-51 regarded as a classic occupant case.
31

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* size-a meterto well over a meter; * sound-usually none reported; * typeof motion-hovering,erratic or smooth flight,with a rapid disappearance. In at least one instance,the presence of "occupants" covered in shiny white clothingis reported.Encountersrange fromdistant views to possibly actual contact;the preferred place and time of observation seem to be rural areas in the daytime.Physical evidence is generally lacking. Greek and Roman scientific who were never at a loss thinkers, for theories,usually regarded these types of aerial phenomena as or stars,clouds, atmosphericfires,lightreflections moving material bodies.33Since most of the original theorieshark back to Aristotle and his predecessors,with none being later than Posidonius, they generallypredate the reportscollectedhere,none of which is earlier than 218 BC. It is accordinglyimpossible to know whetherthe later observers (mostly practical Romans) interpretedthe phenomena literally as they described them or were simply using the best descriptivelanguage they were capable of, while holding back on theoretical But speculation.34 any viable theorymust reckonwith the extraordinary persistence and consistencyof the phenomena discussed here over many centuries.Whetherone prefersto thinkin termsof universalrecurrent visions fromthe collectiveunconscious, misperceptions of ordinary objects, unusual atmospheric effects, unknownphysicalphenomena or extraterrestrial what we visitations, today would call UFOs possess an intrinsicinterestthat has transcended the passage of timeand theincreaseofhuman knowledge. National Aeronautics SpaceAdministration and WORKSCITED Martin 1969."Atmospheric D. and Altschuler, Electricity Plasma Interpreof tations UFOs." In Scientific ofUnidentified Objects, edited Study Flying New York. byEdwardU. CondonandDaniel S. Gillmor, 723-55. pp. A. of Barrett, Anthony 1978."Observations Cometsin Greekand Roman Sources AD before 410."Journal the Astronomical of Royal Society Canada of
72: 81-106.
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At least beforethe 1st centuryBC,Greek scientific theorywould not have been familiarto many Romans, and so the lack of explicit interpretation these simple in reportsshould not be deemed surprising.

Arist. Mete. 339a33-45a10; 370b3-78b6; Sen. Nat. 1, 7; ALtius3.2.

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