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Sighting record / 66

Armies and chariots in the clouds over Judaea

c. 66 · Judaea (Roman province), around Jerusalem
17Thinly documented UAP Formation 21 sources

Spring, AD 66. Judaea stands on the edge of war. A few days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, before sunset, something appears in the sky. Chariots. Troops of soldiers in their armour, running about among the clouds. Armed battalions hurtling through the air and encircling the cities below. Flavius Josephus wrote it down in the 70s AD. He admitted it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it. Tacitus told it too. Contending hosts meeting in the skies. Arms flashing. Today writers on ancient UFOs call it an early aerial report. Classicists call it a war omen. The clouds have kept their secret.

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Context

Judaea, AD 66. A Roman province on the brink of revolt. Within weeks the Jewish War would begin. Four years later Titus would besiege Jerusalem, and the Temple would fall.

Sources (21, most influential first)

  1. List of reported UFO sightings · Wikipedia · Wiki, blog, podcast · wiki
  2. Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3 (Whiston) · Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University · Academic / paper of record · academic
  3. Josephus, The Jewish War (LCL 210), trans. H. St J. Thackeray · Loeb Classical Library · Academic / paper of record · book
  4. Jacques Vallée's Deceptive Evidence for Ancient UFOs, Part 2 · Jason Colavito · Wiki, blog, podcast · blog
  5. Josephus' Armies in the Sky · Strange History· 2011-02-28 · Wiki, blog, podcast · blog