What Did the Ancients See? Unidentified Flying Objects that Made an Impact on Early History

A hand-colored woodprint by Samuel Coccius, Basel, Switzerland, 1566. August 7th many black globes moved before the sun at great speed and seemed to be fighting. Was this an ancient UFO sighting or a celestial event? (Public Domain)

In the decades since the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) began keeping track of public reports, well over one hundred thousand sightings have been logged worldwide, with the majority in the United States and notable clusters in Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries. Many reports have ordinary explanations - aircraft, satellites, meteors, drones, and fireworks (there is a reliable U.S. spike around the Fourth of July) - but not all cases are readily resolved. In recent years, governments and scientists have shifted to the term UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) to emphasize careful data collection without presuming extraterrestrial origins.

However, there are certain well-known examples of the spotting of either UAP or UFOs documented throughout history, with varying degrees of reliability. Do any of them stand up to scrutiny?

Unidentified Flying Objects Seen in Ancient Egypt

The idea that puzzling aerial phenomena predate the modern “flying saucer” era is not new. A frequently cited (and controversial) example is the so‑called Tulli Papyrus, said to describe “circles of fire” witnessed in the sky during the reign of an Egyptian pharaoh. The text is usually dated to “Year 22” and often associated with Thutmose III.