Venice, Italy — 336 BC
Alexander the Great, and the UFO that shook Venice
According to a letter he wrote to Aristotle, Alexander the Great seized Venice when an object came down from the sky, shot a beam, and crumbled the walls. This is an entirely spurious account: We traced the story and discovered it was about the use of gunpowder, not an unexplained flying object. The Aristotle letter is a known medieval forgery, only famous because Dante mentions it. * 330 BC: Sur (Tyre), Lebanon: Great silver shields Two strange craft were seen to dive repeatedly at Alexander’s army. They looked like great silver shields that went back up into the sky over the Macedonian camp. These “flying shields” flew in triangular formation, led by a large object, while the others were smaller by almost half. In all there were five. They circled slowly over Tyre while thousands of warriors on both sides stood and watched them in astonishment. Suddenly from the largest “shield” came a lightning flash that struck the walls, which crumbled. Unfortunately, no book about Alexander the Great contains the account. The story came from American writer Frank Edwards in 1959, who provided no reference. Fig. 43: An interpretation of Alexander’s “silver shields” In 1966 Italian writer Fenoglio (the man who invented the Alengon story and many others) embellished the tale. He did not give a reference either, except to say that Alexander’s historian recorded the event. The problem is that Alexander’s historian was Callisthenes, whose “Deeds of Alexander” are lost. Fenoglio also states 19th century historian Gustavo Droysen “intentionally does not cite it, believing it to be a fantasy of the Macedonian soldiers.” In 1970 Gordon Creighton referred to the sighting in Flying Saucer Review. He mentioned Edwards’ name but added details from Fenoglio. He stated that he did not know an original source. In 1976 another English researcher, W. Raymond Drake, interpreted Edwards’ and Fenoglio’s versions as two separate events, one in Venice and one in Tyre. He misread the article of 1966 and understood Fenoglio had actually quoted from Droysen. Until some original source can be located, we are left with the suggestion that Alexander’s army at Tyre simply witnessed fiery projectiles, some sort of flaming weapon. Ca. 300 BC, Kun-Lun Mountains, China The Charioteer of the Moon According to Professor Couliano, Taoist K’u Yuan (or Qu Yuan) flew with Wang-Shu,” the charioteer of the Moon,” in a chariot drawn by dragons. Fig. 44: Qu Yuan, from the Ming Dynasty The lady charioteer crops up in many florid poems, like this one, The Sorrow of Separation, by K’u Yuan (340-278 BC). It gave rise to the idea that he traveled with the moon entity, but in fact it is just a well-known poem, full of metaphor. The verse most relevant to our reference is this: I could, for the time being, roam leisurely and remain carefree. I let the moon-driver Wangshu act as leader And told the wind-god Feilian to follow closely. A phoenix acted as vanguard. The thunder god told me that luggage was not ready. I ordered the phoenix to fly fast, day and night. A cyclone gathered around, leading clouds to welcome me.
Source: Case: W460