Pliny’s fiery shield report

Record summary

What happened Pliny the Elder recorded a fiery, sparkling shield travelling from west to east at sunset. The short sentence is frequently presented as a Roman flying-saucer report because a round shield resembles later disc imagery. Pliny, however, catalogued unusual natural celestial phenomena and did not describe occupants, machinery or an encounter. Evidence A concise passage survives in Natural History; witness names and an exact location are absent. Explanations considered A meteor, parhelion, unusual cloud illumination or compressed report of an astronomical event can fit the description. What remains uncertain The wording is too brief to distinguish literal geometry from analogy. Primary source Pliny’s fiery shield report — Wikipedia