Livy

Titus Livius, known in English as Livy, was a Roman historian from Patavium, modern Padua. His History of Rome from its Founding ran to 142 books covering Rome from its legendary origins to his own day. Only 35 books survive, with short summaries of most of the rest. With Sallust and Tacitus he is counted among the great Roman historians, and his work was a classic in his own lifetime.

Livy regularly ends a year's account with a list of prodigies: strange events reported to the Senate, which judged them and ordered religious rites to expiate them. He drew these from records compiled by priests, which is why Roman prodigy lists often give dates, places and official responses.

In Book 21, for the winter of 218 BCE, with Hannibal in Italy, he records that phantom ships were seen gleaming in the sky, among other signs. Ancient-astronaut writers treat this as a sighting log. Historians note that Livy himself says fear made people credulous, and that prodigy reports surged in times of crisis. A later writer, Julius Obsequens, extracted many of his prodigies into one book.