290. — 1994
Circa 1900 BC Egypt, the death star and a gold serpent The first ancient reference to an unidentified object from the sky in relation to strange beings is found in an authentic Egyptian papyrus generally considered to belong to the twelfth dynasty, 1991 to 1802 BC. The text, known as The Tale of the Shipwreck, was discovered by chance in 1880 by Golenischeff in the Ermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg and is now on display at a Moscow Museum. It tells how the lone survivor of a shipwreck was carried by the waves to a mysterious tropical island that nobody had seen before. The ruler of the island was a giant, glowing, human-headed serpent, “his body overlaid with gold, and his color as that of true lapis-lazuli.” This being seemed pleased to meet the unfortunate sailor and invited him to his home as a guest. Egyptologist G. Maspero, very much an authority in his day, translated the extract in Les Contes de I’Egypte Ancienne (4 Edition, Paris 1911): th We are seventy-five Serpents in number, my children and my brothers, not mentioning the young girl who was brought to me by the magic art. Because when a star fell, those who were in the fire with her came out and the young girl appeared; and I was not amongst the beings of the flame, I was not amongst them, else I would be dead, but I found her among the corpses, alone. What ‘star’ is the serpent-being referring to? Unfortunately no details are given in the papyrus. Was the ‘star’ a meteorite, as most scholars suggest? It seems possible but it cannot be proved. There was no word to describe meteorites in the Egyptian hieroglyphic system, so the word ‘star’ (“seba”) could be used as a wild card for any kind of luminous phenomenon travelling in the sky. Analysis of the tale reveals that it already contains imagery that would become the framework of ‘encounter’ stories for the next three and a half thousand years. The island, which the text actually says will sink into the sea again like fabled Atlantis, would be replaced by what is nowadays called a ‘window area.’ The reptile king would hardly change at all over time, as humanoid serpents and “reptilian beings” are a staple element in mythology and UFO lore all over the world. And wherever supernatural beings dwell in folklore, mysterious lights, or crashing objects are never far away. Similar stories come from ancient China: the dragon king had his palace on an island in the ocean. This island was said to vanish and reappear regularly, confusing sailors and giving rise to many strange beliefs. “Sometimes,” writes Donald Mackenzie, “a red light burns above the island at night. It is seen many miles distant, and its vivid rays may be reflected in the heavens.” A Japanese story describes the island as “a glowing red mass resembling the rising sun.”
Source: Case: W455