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The Tulli Papyrus is claimed to be a transcription of an Egyptian papyrus dating from the reign of Thutmose III. The claim originated in a 1953 article published in Doubt, the Fortean Society magazine, by Tiffany Thayer.
Thayer claimed that in 1933, Alberto Tulli, curator of the Egyptology department of the Vatican Museums, discovered a strange roll of papyrus lying in the antique pavilion of Cairo. After Alberto Tulli died, the papyrus was handed over to his brother. However, Tulli's brother also died shortly thereafter, and the papyrus scroll went missing. Twenty years later, Italian Egyptologist Boris de Rachewiltz discovered the original copy of the papyrus, containing excerpts roughly translated from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and translated them as follows: [a]
In the year 22, third month of winter, sixth hour of the day (. . . 2 . . .) The scrib[e]s 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. [1]
This event is said to have taken place in the early years when Thutmose III ruled Egypt, around 1480 BCE. [1]
References to "circles of fire" or "fiery discs" allegedly contained in the translation have been interpreted in UFO and Fortean literature as evidence of ancient flying saucers, although ufologists Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck have described it as a "hoax". According to Vallee and Aubeck, since Tulli had supposedly copied it during a single viewing of the original papyrus using an "Ancient Egyptian shorthand", and de Rachewiltz had never seen the original, the alleged text likely contained transcription errors, making it impossible to verify. [2] [3] [4]
Author Erich von Däniken included the Tulli Papyrus in his speculations of ancient visitations by extraterrestrials. In the 1968 Condon Report, Samuel Rosenberg reported that it was likely that "Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake". [5] Rosenberg 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" and concluded that "all accounts of 'UFO-like sightings handed down through the ages' are doubtful – until verified". [6]
The Tulli Papyrus was possibly copied from the 'Egyptian Grammar' published by Gardiner in 1927. [7]
