A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap . In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father' ; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra wielded by the god Indra . It may have been a symbol of cosmic order, as expressed in the fragment from Heraclitus describing "the Thunderbolt that steers the course of all things".
2-452: Bolt or bolts may refer to: Etymology: "to strike", see for example Thunderbolt Thunderbolt In its original usage the word may also have been a description of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, as Plato suggested in Timaeus , or, according to Victor Clube , meteors, though this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation
4-577: The thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies . 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 god and weather god . As such, it is an unsurpassed method of dramatic instantaneous retributive destruction: thunderbolts as divine weapons can be found in many mythologies. The name "thunderbolt" or "thunderstone" has also been traditionally applied to
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