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the "winged disk" of Ra, "which shined with many colors," a description which many believe is the most accurate description of a UFO in ancient history. A description of the "winged disk" of Ra was inscribed in hieroglyphic text in the temple at Edfu, an ancient Egyptian city dedicated to Horns. The inscription deals with the activities of the gods long before the reign of the pharaohs. "So Horns, the Winged Measurer, flew up toward the horizon in the Winged Disk of Ra; it is there-fore that he has been called from that day on Great God, Lord of the Skies. . . . Then Horns, the Winged Measurer, reappeared in the Winged Disk, which shined in many colors; and he came back to the boat of Ra, the Falcon of the Horizon.... And Thoth said: ‘O Lord of the gods! The Winged Measurer has returned in the great Winged Disk, shining with many colors.’ "” In the Egyptian Book of the Dead a similar description is found in a story about the goddess Isis attempting to escape from the god Seth. In the story, Isis, the mother of Horus, is attempting to save the life of her son by escaping from Seth who is trying to kill him. With assistance from the god Thoth, Isis escapes from Seth in the Boat of the Ao at aad Celestial Disk. "Then Isis sent forth a cry to heaven and addressed her appeal to the Boat of Millions of Years. And the Celestial Disk stood still, and moved not from the place where it was. And Thoth came down, and he was provided with magical powers, and possessed the great power. . . . And he said: *O Isis, thou goddess, thou glorious one . . . I have come this day in the Boat of the Celestial Disk from the place where it was yesterday .. . I have come from the skies to save the child for his mother.' "° With these remarkable records of the gods of Egypt flying on a winged celestial disk and the flying boat of Ra, it is easy to see why UFO researchers have embraced these texts as proof of ancient visitations by a technologically advanced race of extraterrestrial beings. It is equally easy to understand why the ancient Egyptians worshiped them as gods. There are many other Egyptian texts which are equally suggestive of UFO activity in ancient times. According to Weldon and Levitt, the sighting of UFO-like objects was again recorded by ancient Egyptians many centuries after the pyramids were built. "... The Egyptians, no mean scientists for those early times, also noted UFO phenomena. A papyrus record of the annals of Pharaoh Thutmos II (ca. 1600 B.C.) mentions ‘circles of fire in the sky' The circles were as bright as the sun, according to the record, very numerous and dominating the sky. A terrible stench, a factor common to many modern reports, was associated with the appearance of these fiery disks."*! The appearance of unusual aerial phenomenon in the Middle East continued long after the events in ancient Egypt. During the period of the Greek and Roman empires from the fourth century B.C. to about 17 B.C., a number of unusual sightings were recorded. 26 ANCIENT ROME