Armies in the Clouds: Josephus' Sky Chariots Over Judea

Before the war with Rome, Josephus says chariots and armed troops were seen running through the clouds around Judean cities.

In The Jewish War, Josephus lists signs before the Temple's destruction, including chariots and armed soldiers seen running among the clouds before sunset and surrounding cities.

Flavius Josephus was a Jewish priest and commander who fought against Rome in the revolt of 66 CE, surrendered, and wrote The Jewish War under Roman patronage. In Book 6, after describing the burning of the Temple in 70 CE, he lists the signs that he says warned of the disaster and that the people ignored.

They include a star like a sword and a comet that stayed for a year, a bright light around the altar at night, the massive eastern gate of the Temple opening by itself, and at Pentecost a sound of a multitude saying "Let us remove hence." Then, in Whiston's translation: "before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities." Josephus says it would seem a fable if eyewitnesses had not reported it.

The Roman historian Tacitus independently records similar portents in his Histories (5.13): armies clashing in the sky, weapons flashing, and the Temple lit by fire from the clouds. A much older Jewish source, 2 Maccabees 5, describes horsemen in golden armor charging through the air over Jerusalem for forty days before a different crisis, around 168 BCE.

Historians read these as omen literature, a standard way ancient writers framed great disasters, possibly inspired by auroras, which can look like red, moving columns. Because Josephus names a date and invokes eyewitnesses, and because Tacitus reports something similar, the account remains a classic in collections of ancient sky sightings.