All Topics  
Thunderbolt

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Thunderbolt
 
 
  Topics Thunderbolt Topic Home

A thunderbolt is a traditional expression for a discharge of lightning
Lightning

File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
 or a symbolic representation thereof. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, although this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation it has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies
Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Thunderbolt'
Start a new discussion about 'Thunderbolt'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Thunderbolts
A thunderbolt is a traditional expression for a discharge of lightning
Lightning

File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
 or a symbolic representation thereof. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, although this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation it has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies
Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
. Drawing from this powerful association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and semiotic representations of electricity.

Lightning plays a role in many mythologies, often as the weapon of a sky and storm god. As such, it is an unsurpassed method of dramatic instantaneous retributive destruction: thunderbolts as divine weapons can be found in many mythologies.

  • In Hindu mythology
    Hindu mythology

    Hindu mythology is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas....
    , the god Indra
    Indra

    Indra is the god of War and Weather, also the King of the gods or Deva and Lord of Heaven or Swarga in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief deity in the sacred Hindu text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash and amorous character....
     is known as the god of lightning. His main weapon is the thunderbolt (Vajra
    Vajra

    Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. As a material device, the vajra is a short metal weapon that has the symbolic nature of a diamond and that of the thunderbolt ....
    ).
  • In Hittite
    Hittites

    The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a Hittite language of the Anatolian languages of the Indo-European languages family, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca....
     and Hurrian mythology
    Mythology

    The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
    , a triple thunderbolt was one symbol of Teshub
    Teshub

    Teshub was the Hurrians god of sky and storm. He was derived from the Hattians Taru. His Hittites and Luwian name was Tarhun .He is depicted holding a triple thunderbolt and a weapon, usually an axe or Mace ....
    .
  • In Greek mythology
    Greek mythology

    Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
    , the thunderbolt is a weapon given to Zeus
    Zeus

    Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
     by the Cyclops
    Cyclops

    In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
    .
  • In Roman mythology
    Roman mythology

    Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
    , the thunderbolt is a weapon given to Jupiter
    Jupiter

    Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the Solar system by size planet within the Solar System. It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined....
     by the Cyclops.
  • In Germanic mythology
    Germanic mythology

    Germanic mythology refers to:*any myths associated with historical Germanic paganism*Norse mythology*Continental Germanic mythology*Anglo-Saxon mythology...
    , Thor
    Thor

    Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
     is specifically the god of thunder and lightning, wielding Mjolnir
    Mjolnir

    In Norse mythology, Mj?llnir or Mj?lner is the hammer of Thor, a major god associated with thunder in Norse mythology. Distinctively shaped, Mj?llnir is depicted in Norse mythology as one of the most fearsome weapons, capable of leveling mountains....
    .
  • In Maya mythology, Huracan
    Huracan

    Huracan was a Maya mythology weather god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity....
     is sometimes represented as three lightning bolts.
  • In Native American mythology
    Native American mythology

    Although a section on Mythology is no substitute for a section on Native American Religion, Native American belief systems include many sacred narratives....
    , the Ani Hyuntikwalaski
    Ani Hyuntikwalaski

    In Native American mythology the Ani Hyuntikwalaski are beings that cause lightning fire in a hollow sycamore tree.Ani Hyuntikwalaski is also the name of the Western Marker of The Lost Island Stonecircle....
     ("thunder beings") cause lightning fire in a hollow sycamore
    Sycamore

    Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms.* Ficus sycomorus, the sycamore of the Bible; a species of fig, also called the "sycamore fig" or "fig-mulberry", native to the Middle East and eastern Africa...
     tree.


The thunderbolt continues into the modern world as a prominent symbol; it has entered modern heraldry
Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of devising, granting, and blazoning Coat of arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms....
 and military iconography.

See also

  • Thunderbolts (comics)
    Thunderbolts (comics)

    The Thunderbolts are a Marvel Comics superhero team, which consists mostly of former supervillains. The group was conceived by writer Kurt Busiek and first appeared in Hulk #449 ....
  • Thunderbolt (Marvel Comics)
    Thunderbolt (Marvel Comics)

    Thunderbolt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Universe....
  • Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt
    Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt

    Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt is a fictional superhero character originally owned by Charlton Comics and eventually acquired by DC Comics, notable for containing some of the earliest respectful invocations of Eastern mysticism in American pop culture....
  • Thunder god
  • Vajra
    Vajra

    Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. As a material device, the vajra is a short metal weapon that has the symbolic nature of a diamond and that of the thunderbolt ....
  • Perkwunos
    Perkwunos

    The name of an Proto-Indo-European religion deity of thunder and/or the oak may be reconstructed as * or *.Another name for the thunder god contains an onomatopoeic root *, continued in Gaulish Taranis and Hittite Tarhunt....
  • Lightning
    Lightning

    File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
  • Thunderbolt siren
    Thunderbolt Siren

    The Thunderbolt siren is a discontinued electro-mechanical warning siren that was once manufactured in the United States by Federal Signal Corporation....