The Tulli Papyrus is supposedly an Egyptian

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

dating from the reign of

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

. The claim originated in a letter published by Tiffany Thayer in ''Doubt'', the Fortean Society magazine.

Claims by Rachewiltz

In 1953, Italian Fortean Boris de Rachewiltz claimed to have found a 20 x 18cm papyrus document among the papers of Alberto Tulli, curator of the Egyptology department of the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

, after his death. Rachewiltz wrote to Thayer, describing the document as an ancient testimony of

flying saucers A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...

from the reign of

(1479-1425 BCE), and providing a translation of "the best preserved and perhaps most interesting part":

In the year 22, third month of winter, sixth hour of the day (. . . 2 . . .) The scrib of the House of Life found it was a circle of fire thtat was coming in the sky. (Though) it had no head, the breath of its mouth (had) a foul odour. Its body 1 "rod" long and 1 "rod" large. It had no voice. Their hearts became confused through it, they laid themselves on their bellies (. . . 3 . . .) They went to the King . . ?) to report it. His Majesty ordered (. . . 4 . . .) has been examined (. . . 5 . . .) as to all which is written in the papyrus-rolls of the House of Life His Majesty was meditating upon what happened. Now, after some days had passed over those things, Lo! they were more numerous than anything. They were shining in the sky more than the sun to the limits of the four supports of heaven (. . . 6 . . .) Powerful was the position of the fire circles. The army of the king looked on and His Majesty was in the midst of it. It was after supper. Thereupon they (i.e. the fire circles) went up higher directed to South. Fishes and volatiles fell down from the sky. (It was) a marvel never occurred since the foundation of this Land! Caused His Majesty to be brought incense to pacify the hearth (. . . 9 . . . To write?) what happened in the book of the House of Life (. . . 10 . . . to be remembered?) for the Eternity.Thayer, Tiffany (1953). "Forteana ca 1500 BC". ''Doubt''. 43. pp. 214-215.

However, Rachewiltz later admitted to Gianfranco Nolli, Tulli's successor, that had never seen any such papyrus himself, now claiming to have based his translation on notes taken by Tulli in 1934 after viewing the papyrus for a short while at the home of "Tano" (= Phokion J. Tanos?) in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. In letters published in 1962 and 1971, Rachewiltz said that his original account, as published in ''Doubt'', had been falsified by Thayer. Giuseppe Botti attempted to gain access to the papyrus before his death in 1968, but never heard back from Tulli's brother (who had supposedly given Rachewiltz access).

Criticism and hoax

Étienne Drioton, according to a report Rachewiltz attributed to Tulli's brother, believed that it was genuine but referred to a meteorite. The text was quickly adopted by other UFO believers, but Gianfranco Nolli, Tulli's successor at the Vatican Museums, suspected that "Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake". Samuel Rosenberg, in his 1968 Condon Report, wrote that the papyrus had been plagiarized from the

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Nevi'im#Latter Prophets, Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and one of the Major Prophets, major prophetic books in the Christian Bible, where it follows Book of Isaiah, Isaiah and ...

and cited the Tulli Papyrus as an example of stories circulated among UFO book authors "taken from secondary and tertiary sources without any attempt to verify original sources", concluding that "all accounts of 'UFO-like sightings handed down through the ages are doubtful—until verified".Alt URL
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Ufologists This is a list of notable people who are ufologists (people who investigate whether UFOs are linked to extraterrestrial aliens). Argentina * Juan Posadas, (1912–1981), Trotskyist theorist who blended together Trotskyism and Ufology ...

Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck describe the papyrus as a "hoax" and "somewhat too convenient a find for the editors of ''Doubt'' magazine. In one stroke the text combines flying saucers a hot topic in the early 1950s with rains of fish and other animals, a staple of Fortean research since the phenomenon was famously popularized by the Society's founder,

Charles Fort Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...

".Willis, Ronald J. (1967). "The Tulli Papyrus . . ." ''INFO Journal''. 2 (2). International Fortean Organization. pp. 45-48. The supposed papyrus was probably copied from '' Egyptian Grammar'' (1927) by

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal li ...

.Garbagnati, Marcello (4/11/06)
"Svelato il mistero del "Papiro di Tulli"
''Egittalogia.net''
Archive link.
English translation:

References

Notes

External links

by Larry Orcutt. {{UFOs 20th-century manuscripts Ufology Hoaxes in the United States