Conclusions
This collection of what might be termed ancient UFO reports has
been culled from a much larger number of reports of aerial objects,
most of whose identifications with known phenomena are either certain or at least highly probable. Embedded in the mass of relatively
explicable ancient reports, however, is a small set of unexplained (or
at least not wholly explained) reports from presumably credible witnesses. If these reports are examined statistically, essential features
of what I will, for argument’s sake, call the ancient UFO phenomenon
can be extracted:
• shape—discoidal or spheroidal;
• color—silvery, golden or red;
• texture—metallic or, occasionally, glowing or cloudy;
30 Liv. 21.62.5; 24.10.10. See also n. 10, above. 31 Vallee (1965) 145–8; Hynek (1972) 167–72; Herbison-Evans (1977). 32 [Hermas] Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 4.1–3. Cf. Exodus 3:2–6; Job 41:19–21;
Jeremiah 1:13; Ezekiel 1:1–28; 3:12–14; 10:1–22; 11:22–4. Hermas’ experience resembles
the Miracle of Fatima incident in 1917, which Vallee (1965) 148–51 regarded as a
classic occupant case.
90 RICHARD STOTHERS
• size—a meter to well over a meter;
• sound—usually none reported;
• type of motion—hovering, erratic or smooth flight, with a rapid
disappearance.
In at least one instance, the presence of “occupants” covered in shiny
white clothing is reported. Encounters range from distant 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 thinkers, who were never at a loss
for theories, usually regarded these types of aerial phenomena as
stars, clouds, atmospheric fires, light reflections or moving material
bodies.
33 Since most of the original theories hark back to Aristotle
and his predecessors, with none being later than Posidonius, they
generally predate the reports collected here, none of which is earlier
than 218 BC. It is accordingly impossible to know whether the later
observers (mostly practical Romans) interpreted the phenomena
literally as they described them or were simply using the best
descriptive language they were capable of, while holding back on
theoretical speculation.
34 But any viable theory must reckon with the
extraordinary persistence and consistency of the phenomena discussed here over many centuries. Whether one prefers to think in
terms of universal recurrent visions from the collective unconscious,
misperceptions of ordinary objects, unusual atmospheric effects,
unknown physical phenomena or extraterrestrial visitations, what we
today would call UFOs possess an intrinsic interest that has transcended the passage of time and the increase of human knowledge
https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/2007/2007_Stothers_st02710y.pdf