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Philostratus the Elder (3rd century BCE Greek rhetorician), in Imagines 1.14, gave this description: [1] "[From a description of an ancient Greek painting depicting the death of Semele] Bronte (Thunder), stern of face, and Astrape (Lightning), flashing light from her eyes, and raging fire from heaven that has laid hold of a king’s house ...
The most noticeable aspect of lightning and thunder is that the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard. This is a consequence of the speed of light being much greater than the speed of sound. The speed of sound in dry air is approximately 343 m/s (1,130 ft/s) or 1,236 km/h (768 mph) at 20 °C (68 °F; 293 K). [19]
Storm gods are most often conceived of as wielding thunder and/or lightning (some lightning gods' names actually mean "thunder", [1] [2] [3] but since one cannot have thunder without lightning, they presumably wielded both). The ancients didn't seem to differentiate between the two, which is presumably why both the words "lightning bolt" and ...
Thunderstorms are commonly depicted as the rage of the deity which is associated with it.. Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture.
[23] [24] In the Latvian poetic expression Pērkōns met savu milnu ("Pērkōn throws his mace"), the mace (milna) is cognate with the Old Norse mjölnir, the hammer thrown by the thunder god Thor, and also with the word for 'lightning' in the Old Prussian mealde, the Old Church Slavonic *mlъni, or the Welsh mellt. [3] [24] [25]
Zibelthiurdos is a Thracian god of heaven, lightning and rain, whose name is known mainly from epigraphic monuments. The only known reference to this god so far in ancient literature is in Cicero 's speech against Pizon, where he is mentioned under the name Jovi Vrii ( Iuppiter Urius ).
In Guaraní mythology, Tupã is the embodiment of thunder and has power over lightning. In Cherokee mythology, the Ani Hyuntikwalaski ("thunder beings") cause lightning fire in a hollow sycamore tree. In Ojibway mythology, thunder is created by the Thunderbirds (Nimkiig or Binesiiwag), which can be both benevolent and malevolent to human beings.
According to Festus, there were five kinds of auspicia to which augurs paid heed: ex caelo, celestial signs such as thunder and lightning; ex avibus, signs offered by birds; ex tripudiis, signs produced by the actions of certain sacred chickens; ex quadrupedibus, signs from the behavior of four-legged animals; and ex diris, threatening portents ...