Ask ten researchers what the oldest recorded UFO sighting is, and you'll probably get ten different answers. That's because the record depends on how strict you are about what counts. Does it need to be a written account? Does the word "flying" have to be involved? Once you set the rules, the field of candidates narrows quickly.
Part of the challenge is that "recorded" can mean different things depending on who you ask. A strict historian might only count a report if the original physical document survives and can be dated with confidence. A more relaxed researcher might count any old translation, even a secondhand one, as long as the described imagery sounds close enough to a modern sighting. Both approaches are reasonable for their own purposes, but they lead to very different lists of candidates, which is exactly why this question keeps generating fresh debate.
It also helps to remember that ancient people were skilled, careful observers of the sky in their own right, even without modern instruments. Priests, sailors, and farmers all depended on the sky for religious timing, navigation, and planting seasons, which means a genuinely unusual event was far more likely to be noticed, discussed, and eventually written down than it might be by a modern city dweller who rarely looks up at all.
The Egyptian Tulli Papyrus
One of the most-cited candidates is a document known as the Tulli Papyrus, said to describe "fire circles" seen in the sky over Egypt during the reign of Thutmose III, roughly 1450 BCE. The problem is that the original papyrus has never been found. All that exists is a translation supposedly made by an Egyptologist named Alberto Tulli in the 1930s. Without the original document, most historians treat this case with heavy skepticism rather than as solid proof of an ancient sighting.
Roman Sky Omens
Roman historians, on the other hand, left behind records we can actually check today. Writers like Livy and Julius Obsequens kept lists of unusual sky events, calling them prodigies or omens. These include descriptions of "phantom ships" in the clouds and round shields blazing across the sky at night. Because Roman record-keeping was organized and many original texts survive, these accounts are considered more historically reliable, even if what caused them is still debated. We dig into this specific period in our article on UFO sightings in ancient Rome.
Biblical and Religious Accounts
Some researchers also point to religious texts, such as the description of a wheel-like vision in the Book of Ezekiel, written around the 6th century BCE. Religious scholars generally read this as a spiritual vision rather than a literal aircraft sighting, but it still gets mentioned in lists of early "sky object" reports because of its vivid, wheel-within-a-wheel imagery.
Why Ancient Reports Are So Hard to Judge
The honest answer is that no single event can be confirmed as the true oldest recorded UFO sighting. Ancient languages often used symbolic or poetic descriptions for real weather events, like halos around the sun, meteor showers, or ball lightning. A writer 3,000 years ago had no scientific words for these things, so they reached for the closest images they knew: shields, wheels, ships, and fire.
How Modern Researchers Sort Fact From Folklore
Historians who study these claims usually ask three questions: Does the original document still exist? Was it written close to the time of the event, or centuries later? And does the description match a known natural cause, like a comet or aurora? Cases that survive all three questions, like the Roman prodigy lists, tend to be treated more seriously than single, unverifiable sources like the Tulli Papyrus.
Other Candidates Sometimes Mentioned
A few other ancient sources come up regularly in discussions of the oldest recorded UFO sighting. Ancient Greek writers occasionally described strange lights and shapes in the sky as omens before battles, though these accounts are often brief and secondhand, filtered through later historians rather than original eyewitnesses. Chinese court records from several early dynasties include mentions of glowing objects, though as with the Egyptian and Roman material, translation and interpretation play a huge role in how dramatic these accounts sound in English.
Why the Answer Keeps Changing
Part of the reason there's no single settled answer is that historical research keeps evolving. New translations of old texts, newly discovered documents, and improved understanding of ancient languages can all shift how a passage is read. A phrase translated one way in the 1800s might be translated quite differently by a modern scholar with better tools and more context. That's a normal, healthy part of historical research, but it does mean lists of "the oldest UFO sighting" published years apart can genuinely disagree with each other.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Tulli Papyrus considered real evidence?
Most historians treat it with heavy skepticism, since the original document has never been located and the only surviving version is a secondhand translation from the 1930s.
What's the most historically reliable ancient source?
The Roman prodigy lists, compiled by real historians using organized record-keeping, are generally considered the most reliable ancient source, even though what caused the events they describe is still debated.
Will we ever know the true oldest sighting for certain?
Probably not with complete certainty. Ancient record-keeping simply wasn't consistent or precise enough, by modern standards, to give researchers the kind of firm answer a modern radar log can provide.
A Practical Way to Think About This Question
Rather than searching for one single "winner," it's more useful to think of ancient sky reports as a layered record, with a few strong, well-documented entries like the Roman lists, some plausible but debated entries like certain religious texts, and a handful of shaky, unverifiable claims like the Tulli Papyrus. Reading them with that layered approach in mind gives a much more honest picture than any single "oldest UFO sighting ever" headline can offer.
Explore the Full Timeline
If ancient history is your interest, our broader look at ancient UFO sightings in history covers several more cases across different civilizations. You can also see how the story continues into more recent centuries in our article on UFO sightings before 1900.