Sacred objects

Thunderbolt of Zeus

The thunderbolt, weapon and emblem of Zeus and of the Roman Jupiter: what it meant in Greek and Roman religion, how it was shown in art and on coins, and where it survives today.

Also called Keraunos · Fulmen

In brief

I.The thunderbolt was the weapon of Zeus, king of the Greek gods, and of his Roman counterpart Jupiter.
II.It stood for the supreme power of the sky god, to protect and to punish.
III.Places struck by lightning were held sacred and were often fenced off.
IV.The winged thunderbolt became a Roman military emblem and is still used in badges today.

Chapter I

What it means

The thunderbolt is the sign of Zeus, ruler of the gods and of the sky. Lightning was his weapon and his voice: with it he defeated the Titans and the monster Typhon, and struck down those who broke oaths or offended the gods. It stood for supreme authority, protective and terrible at once.

Places hit by lightning were treated as touched by the god. Greeks fenced them off; Romans called such a spot a bidental, and priests buried the lightning-struck earth there.

Chapter II

Where it comes from

Greek artists showed the thunderbolt as a bundle of flames or spikes pointed at both ends, held in the raised hand of Zeus. It appears on painted vases from the 6th century BCE and on the coins of many Greek cities, notably Elis, which ran the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia.

Rome took the image over for Jupiter. A winged thunderbolt decorated Roman shields, and the emblem passed into the badges of later armies.

Chapter III

Where you see it today

The winged thunderbolt is still a common military and aviation emblem. It appears in classical-style architecture, and it is the attribute by which statues of Zeus and Jupiter are recognised in museums.

Questions people ask

Who made the thunderbolt?

In Greek myth the Cyclopes, giant smiths, forged it for Zeus after he freed them, and with it he defeated the Titans.

Is it related to the Buddhist vajra?

The vajra also began as the thunderbolt of a sky god, Indra, and both may go back to an old shared image. Their later meanings are very different.

Sources and further reading

Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Harvard University Press, 1985)
J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (Thames & Hudson, 1978)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Religious symbolism and iconography”

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