Now they're falling in New Zealand, too. Some serious weirdness here. We'll probably be dodging falling birds in the USA tomorrow.
I better look around the garage for those gas masks!
Alexander
73. Towards the end of the year Alexander travelled to Babylon. Before he arrived he was joined by Nearchus, who had sailed through the ocean and up the Euohrates: Nearchus told him that he had met some Chaldeans who had advised the king to stay away from Babylon.
Alexander paid no attention to this warning and continued his journey, but when he arrived before the walls of the city, he saw a large number of ravens flying about and pecking one another, and some of them fell dead in front of him. Next he received a report that Apollodorus the governor of Babylon had offered up a sacrifice to try to discover what fate held in store for Alexander, and then he sent for Pythagorus, the diviner who had conducted the sacrifice.
Pythagorus admitted that this was true, and Alexander then asked him in what condition he had found the victim. 'The liver,' Pythagorus told him, 'had no lobe.' 'Indeed', replied Alexander, 'that is a threatening omen.' He did Pythagorus no harm and he began to regret that he had not taken Nearchus' advice, and so he spent most of his time outside the walls of Babylon, either in his tent or in boats on the Euphrates.
Many more omens now occurred to trouble him. A tame ass attacked the finest lion in his menagerie and kicked it to death. On another occasion Alexander took off his clothes for exercise and played a game of ball. When it was time to dress again, the young men who had joined him in the game suddenly noticed that there was a man sitting quietly on the throne wearing Alexander's diadem and royal robes.
When he was questioned, he could say nothing for a long while, but later he came to his senses and explained that he was a citizen of Messenia named Dionysius. He had been accused of some crime, brought to Babylon from the coast, and kept for a long time in chains. Then the god Serapis had appeared to him, cast off is chains and brought him to this place, where he had commanded him to put on the king's robe and diadem, take his seat on the throne and hold his peace.
74. When he had heard the man's story, Alexander had him put to death, as the diviners recommended. But his confidence now deserted him, he began to believe that he had lost the favour of the gods, and he became increasingly suspicious of his friends...
Plutarch, Age of Alexander