Roman ‘ships in the sky’ prodigy

Record summary

What happened Livy recorded reports that phantom ships had been seen gleaming in the sky during the political and religious anxiety surrounding the Second Punic War. The entry appears in a catalogue of prodigies that Roman authorities interpreted ritually. It is sometimes quoted as an ancient UFO encounter, although Livy wrote long after the alleged observation and supplied no witness testimony. Evidence A surviving literary passage in Livy preserves the motif; no contemporary physical or astronomical record accompanies it. Explanations considered Cloud forms, halos, mirages and conventional Roman prodigy literature are plausible contexts. What remains uncertain The source is remote from the event and cannot show whether a literal observation occurred. Primary source Roman ‘ships in the sky’ prodigy — Wikipedia