Polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...

peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder deity, the creator or personification of the forces of

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-European cultures, the thunder god is frequently depicted as male and known as the chief or King of the Gods, e.g.:

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Zojz in

Albanian mythology Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among ...

, and

Perun In Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, Perun () is the highest god of the Pantheon (religion), pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, ir ...

in ancient Slavic religion.

Mediterranean

* Adad, Bel, Ishkur,

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

( Babylonian-Assyrian mythology) *

Baʿal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord' in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the t ...

Hadad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

( Canaanite and Phoenician mythology) * I Verbti (

) *

Novensiles In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, the ''dii'' (also ''di'') ''Novensiles'' or ''Novensides'' are collective deities of obscure significance found in epigraphy, inscriptions, prayer formularies, and both ancient and Early Christia ...

(

Etruscan mythology Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and religion. As the ...

) * Perëndi (

) *

Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

(

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

) * Shurdh (Albanian mythology) *

Śuri Śuri (), Latinized as , was an ancient Etruscan infernal, volcanic and solar fire god, also venerated by other Italic peoples – among them Capenates, Faliscans, Latins and Sabines – and later adopted into ancient Roman religion. He ...

(Etruscan mythology) *

Tarḫunna Tarḫunna or Tarḫuna/i was the Hittite weather god. He was also referred to as the "Weather god of Heaven" or the "Lord of the Land of Hatti". Name Tarḫunna is a cognate of the Hittite verb ''tarḫu-zi'', "to prevail, conquer, be pow ...

( Hittite mythology) *

Tarḫunz Tarḫunz (stem: ''Tarḫunt-'') was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub. Name The name of the Pro ...

( Luwian mythology) *

Teshub Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...

( Hurrian mythology) *

Vahagn Vahagn or Vahakn (), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh (), is a warrior god in Armenian mythology. Scholars consider him to be either the thunder, or sun and fire god of the pre-Christian Armenian pantheon, as well as the god of war, bravery and ...

(Armenian mythology) * Zibelthiurdos ( Thracian mythology) * Zis ( Messapian mythology) * Zojz (Albanian mythology)

Greco-Roman

* Astrape and Bronte (

) * Fulgora (

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

) *

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

Summanus Summanus () was the god of nocturnal thunder in ancient Roman religion, as counterposed to Jupiter, the god of diurnal (daylight) thunder. His precise nature was unclear even to Ovid. Pliny thought that he was of Etruscan origin, and one of t ...

(Roman mythology) *

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

(Greek mythology) * Tempestas (Roman mythology) *

(Greek mythology)

Northwestern Eurasia

* Ambisagrus, Loucetios ( Gaulish mythology) * Armazi (

Georgian mythology Georgian mythology ( ka, ქართული მითოლოგია, tr) refers to the mythology of pre-Christian Georgians ( /kʌrtˈvɛliənz/; Georgian: ქართველები, romanized: kartvelebi, pronounced �kʰaɾtʰvel ...

) * Afi ( Abkhaz mythology) * Atämshkai ( Moksha mythology) * Gebeleizis ( Dacian mythology) * Horagalles ( Sami mythology) * Orko (

Basque mythology The mythology of the ancient Basques largely did not survive the arrival of Christianity in the Basque Country between the 4th and 12th century AD. Most of what is known about elements of this original belief system is based on the analysis o ...

) * Perëndi (

) *

Perkūnas Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...

(

Baltic mythology Baltic mythology is the body of mythology of the Baltic peoples stemming from Baltic paganism and continuing after Christianization and into Baltic folklore. History Baltic mythology ultimately stems from Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Bal ...

) * Perkwunos (

Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Ind ...

) *

(

Slavic mythology Slavic paganism, Slavic mythology, or Slavic religion refer to the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and ...

) * Pikne or Pikker ( Estonian mythology) * Sugaar (

) *

Taranis Taranis (sometimes Taranus or Tanarus) is a Celtic thunder god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. The Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Taranis, Esus, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare ...

( Pan-Celtic) *

Tharapita Taara (variations of the name include Tooru, Tharapita and Tarapitha), also known as Uku or Jumal, is a prominent god in Estonian mythology, with a strong resemblance to the Finnish Ukko and the Germanic Thor. Etymology The Livonian place nam ...

or Taara ( Estonian mythology) *

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

/Thunor/Thuner/Thunar/Donar ( Germanic/

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

) * Uacilla ( Ossetian mythology) *

Ukko (), or ( Finnish for 'male grandparent', 'grandfather', 'old man'), parallel to Uku in Estonian mythology, is the god of the sky, weather, harvest, and thunder across Finnic paganism. , the Finnish word for thunder, is the diminutive ...

or Perkele (

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology commonly refers of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a Finnish Neopaganism, modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many shared features with Estonian mythology, Estonian and othe ...

)

Africa

Shango Shango (Yoruba language: Ṣàngó, also known as Changó or Xangô in Latin America; as Jakuta or Badé; and as Ṣangó in Trinidad Orisha) is an Orisha (or spirit) in Yoruba religion. Genealogically speaking, Shango is a royal ancestor of th ...

(god of thunder and lightning, Yoruba Nigeria) * Oya (goddess of hurricanes, storms, death and rebirth, consort of Shango in

Yoruba religion The Yorùbá religion (Yoruba language, Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in pres ...

) *

(

) * Nzazi (god of thunder and lightning; master of thunder dogs in Kongo mythology) * Azaka-Tonnerre ( West African Vodun/

Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West Africa, West and ...

) * Mulungu * Xevioso (alternately: Xewioso, Heviosso. Thunder god of the So region .

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...

mythology) *

Amadioha Amadioha is the deity or god (Arusi or Agbara) of thunder and lightning of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. His main function is to do justice and avenge for the oppressed by striking their oppressors and their properties. But due to the ...

(Igbo, Nigeria) * Obuma (god of thunder, Ibibio-Efik Mythology, Nigeria) * Kiwanuka (god of thunder and lightning, Buganda, Uganda) * Umvelinqangi (god of thunder, earthquakes, sun and sky in Zulu mythology) * Ta Kora (God of War and Strife in the Akom religion, as well as God of Thunder and lightning in the Northern Akan peoples' sect of Akom, such as the Asante)

Asia

South Asia

(

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

Hindu mythology Hindu mythology refers to the collection of myths associated with Hinduism, derived from various Hindu texts and traditions. These myths are found in sacred texts such as the Vedas, the Itihasas (the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Ramayan ...

and Buddhist mythology) *

Parjanya Parjanya (, ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven. Description It is assumed Parjanya is the udder and lightning ...

(Vedic and Hindu mythology) * Raja Indainda ( Batak mythology) * Vajrapani (Buddhist mythology)

East Asia

Chinese

* Dianmu ( Chinese: 電母) *

Leigong Leigong () or Leishen (), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their kno ...

() * Feng Lung ( Lei Gong, Lord of Thunder) * Kui ()

Japanese

* Ajisukitakahikone () *

Raijin , also known as , , , , and Kamowakeikazuchi-no-kami is a god of lightning, thunder, and Storm, storms in Japanese mythology and the Shinto and Buddhism, Buddhist religion. He is typically depicted with fierce and aggressive facial expressions ...

() * Raitaro () * Tenman Daijizai Tenjin () * Susanoo () * Yakusanoikazuchi () * Takemikazuchi ()

Southeast Asia

Filipino

*Kidul (Kalinga mythology)Zaide, S. M. (1999). The Philippines: A Unique Nation. All-Nations Publishing. *Ovug (Ifugao mythology) *Aninitud angachar (Ifugao mythology) *Child of Kabunian (Ibaloi mythology) *Kidu (Bugkalot mythology) *Revenador (Ilocano mythology) * Bathala (Tagalog mythology) *Kidlat (Tagalog mythology) *Gugurang (Bicolano mythology)Vibal, H. (1923). Asuang Steals Fire from Gugurang. Ethnography of The Bikol People, ii. *Linti (Bicolano mythology) *Dalodog (Bicolano mythology) *Kaptan (Bisaya mythology) *Linting Habughabug (Capiznon mythology) *Ribung Linti (Suludnon mythology) *Upu Kuyaw (Pala'wan mythology) *God of Animals (Surigaonon mythology)Esteban, R. C., Casanova, A. R., Esteban, I. C. (2011). Folktales of Southern Philippines. Anvil Publishing. *Diwata Magbabaya/Bathala (Subanon mythology) *Anit/Anitan (Manobo mythology) *Spirit of Lightning and Thunder (Teduray mythology)

Oceania

* Haikili (

Polynesian mythology Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia (a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian Triangle) together with those of the scattered cultures known as the Polyne ...

) *

Tāwhaki In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder. Genealogy The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess ...

(Polynesian mythology) * Kaha'i (Polynesian mythology) * Te Uira (Polynesian mythology) * Nan Sapwe ( Pohnpeian mythology)

Australia

* Mamaragan (

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

( Kunwinjku) mythology)

New Zealand

* Whaitiri (

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

) *

Tāwhirimātea In Māori mythology, Tāwhirimātea (or Tāwhiri) is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms. He is a son of Rangi and Papa, Papatūānuku (Earth goddess, earth mother) and Rangi and Papa, Ranginui (sky father ...

(Māori mythology)

Americas

* Thunderbird (

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

and Huron mythology) * Hé-no (Iroquois and Seneca mythology) * Aktzin (Totonac mythology) *

Wakíŋyaŋ Wakíŋyaŋ is a Lakota language, Lakota word for "thunder". It also may be a portmanteau which associates "wahka" ("sacred") and "kinyan" ("wings"). The word is usually translated as "Thunder Spirits", "Thunder Beings," or "Thunderbird_(mytholog ...

( Sioux/Lakota mythology) * Xolotl and Tlaloc (

Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were a culture living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend ...

) * Cocijo ( Zapotec mythology) *

Chaac Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Maya language, Classic Mayan, Chaahk ) is the name of the Maya civilization, Maya god of rain, thunder, and lightning. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and r ...

(

Maya mythology Maya mythology or Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Maya tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. The legends of the era have to be ...

) * Yopaat (Maya mythology) *

Chibchacum Chibchacum or Chichebachun is the rain and thunder god in the religion of the Muisca who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in pre-Columbian times. Description In myth, when Chibchacum was angry, he sent heavy rains to the flatlands, cau ...

( Muisca mythology) * Apocatequil (

Inca mythology Inca mythology of the Inca Empire was based on pre-Inca beliefs that can be found in the Huarochirí Manuscript, and in pre-Inca cultures including Chavín, Paracas, Moche, and the Nazca culture. The mythology informed and supported Inca re ...

) * Illapa (Inca mythology) * Tunupa (Aymara mythology) * Tupã ( Guarani mythology) * Kasogonagá (Toba mythology)

In literature

The Hindu God Indra was the chief deity and at his prime during the

Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...

, where he was considered to be the supreme God. Indra was initially recorded in the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

, the first of the religious scriptures that comprise the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

. Indra continued to play a prominent role throughout the evolution of Hinduism and played a pivotal role in the two Sanskrit epics that comprise the

Itihasa In Hinduism, Itihasa-Purana, also called the fifth Veda, refers to the traditional accounts of cosmogeny, myths, royal genealogies of the lunar dynasty and solar dynasty, and legendary past events, as narrated in the ''Itihasa'' (Mahabhara ...

s, appearing in both the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

and

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. Although the importance of Indra has since been subsided in favor of other Gods in contemporary Hinduism, he is still venerated and worshipped. In

, the Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, was the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous, evolved from a designation of a place or person struck by lightning, ''enelysion, enelysios.''

Walter Burkert Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of student ...

, ''Greek Religion'', 1985. p. 198. This could be a reference to

, the god of lightning, so "lightning-struck" could be saying that the person was blessed (struck) by Zeus (/lightning/fortune). Egyptologist

Jan Assmann Johann Christoph "Jan" Assmann (7 July 1938 – 19 February 2024) was a German Egyptologist, cultural historian, and religion scholar. Life and works Assmann studied Egyptology and classical archaeology in Munich, Heidelberg, Paris, and Göt ...

has also suggested that Greek ''Elysion'' may have instead been derived from the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

term '' ialu'' (older ''iaru''), meaning "reeds," with specific reference to the " Reed fields" (Egyptian: '' sekhet iaru'' / ''ialu''), a paradisiacal land of plenty where the dead hoped to spend eternity.Assmann, Jan (2001). ''Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt''. Cornell University Press. p. 392

References

{{List of mythological figures by region Comparative mythology

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...