74 BCE — conventional date of the narrated military encounter / T003
Plutarch's falling, wine-jar-shaped fiery body
Near Otryae, Phrygia
Witness account
Plutarch recounts that the armies of Lucullus and Mithridates were about to engage when a fiery body fell between them under otherwise clear skies. He compares its shape to a wine jar and its appearance to molten silver; the armies separated after the event. Modern UFO lists often retain the dramatic shape while omitting the long reporting delay and the literary setting.
Public record
The passage can be checked directly in Life of Lucullus 8.6–7. Plutarch says both armies witnessed the event, but he provides no separately preserved statements by those soldiers. 'Molten silver' describes appearance, not the result of a materials analysis. Richard Stothers notes that jar-like comparisons also belonged to ancient descriptions of meteoric phenomena.