Plutarch’s account of celestial signs at the Battle of Pharsalus

Record summary

Plutarch’s biographies describe unusual celestial signs and atmospheric or luminous phenomena around major Roman military events, including the civil-war context of Pharsalus. Such passages are sometimes mined for ancient UFO parallels, but they belong to a biographical and omen tradition in which extraordinary signs frame historical meaning. The lead is useful for examining how battlefield observers, authors and later readers transform sky phenomena into narrative portents. The exact phenomenon, eyewitness chain and textual source are uncertain, and different translations can suggest different visual details.