Phrygia, near Otryae, Turkey — 72 BC
A falling meteorite stops a battle
At the time of the war between Lucullus and Mithridates, “Marius, whom Sertorius had sent out of Spain to Mithridates with forces under him, stepping out and challenging him, prepared for battle. In the very instant before joining battle, without any perceptible alteration preceding, on a sudden the sky opened, and a large luminous body fell down in the midst between the armies, in shape like a hogshead, but in color like melted silver, insomuch that both armies in alarm withdrew. This wonderful prodigy happened in Phrygia, near Otryae.” (Plutarch’s Lives: Lucullus, translated by John Dryden, 1683.) There is no reason to believe this object was anything but a natural phenomenon.
Source: Case: W463