Where did the ancient Greeks and Romans think lightning came from? Hint: not just the gods

In the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, thunder and lightning strikes were the prime weapon of Zeus (the king of the gods, known to the Romans as Jupiter). The father of Pompey, one of Rome’s most powerful Republican generals, was killed in 87 BCE by lightning (according to one version of the story). In The Clouds, an ancient Greek play by Aristophanes (who lived around 448 to 380 BCE), the philosopher Socrates exclaimed in the middle of a thunderstorm

Author: Peter Edwell, Associate Professor in Ancient History, Macquarie University

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