thunderbolt

In mythology, a destructive bolt or dart (lightning) used as a weapon during a battle between the gods (a thunderstorm), or aimed at humans. The Greek god Zeus wielded thunderbolts, and the concept recurs in many other mythologies.

The Sioux believe that lightning enters the ground and scatters thunderbolt stones (flints, and so on) in all directions. In the traditions of the Finns concerning purification by fire, the healing virtues of the thunderbolt were embodied in the Keraunia or thunderstones. The ‘holystones’ of the Anglo-Saxons, or ‘holed stones’, arrow heads, flint knives, and so on worked by prehistoric humans, were popularly believed to be stones which, falling from heaven, possessed heavenly virtues, which were of great use in all sorts of diseases.