Apollonis in Lydia 2nd Cent BC Ancient Greek Coin Hercules Thunderbolt i31831

Item: i31831

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek city of Apollonis in Lydia

Bronze 13mm (2.43 grams) Struck circa 2nd-1st century B.C.

Reference: Sear 4688
Head of young Hercules right, clad in lion’s skin.
ΑΠΟΛΛΩ / ΝΙΔΕΩΝ above and below winged thunderbolt.

Situated nort-west of Sardeis,
mid-way between that city and Pergamon.

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Authenticity.

A thunderbolt is a symbolic representation of incidents of observed
lightning
when accompanied by a loud
thunderclap
. In its original usage the word may
also have been a description of meteors, or, as
Plato
suggested in
Timaeus
,of the consequences of a close
approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, though this is not currently the
case. As a divine manifestation the thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol
throughout history, and has appeared in many
mythologies
. Drawing from this powerful
association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and
semiotic
representations of electricity.

In mythology

Neo-Attic
bas-relief sculpture of
Jupiter
, holding a thunderbolt in
his right hand; detail from the Moncloa
Puteal
(Roman, 2nd century),
National Archaeological Museum, Madrid

Lightning plays a role in many mythologies, often as the weapon of a
sky god
and
weather god
. As such, it is an unsurpassed
method of dramatic instantaneous retributive destruction: thunderbolts as divine
weapons can be found in many mythologies.

• in the
  Hebrew Bible
  , the word for “arrow”,
  khets חֵץ, is used for the “arrows” of
  YHWH
  /Elohim,
  which are represented as lightnings in
  Habakuk
  3:11, but also as general
  calamities inflicted on men as divine punishment in
  Deuteronomy
  32:42,
  Psalm 64
  :7,
  Job
  6:4, etc.
• Indo-European traditions
  • In Hittite
    (and
    Hurrian
    ) mythology, a triple
    thunderbolt was one symbol of
    Teshub
    (Tarhunt).
  • Vedic religion
    (and later
    Hindu mythology
    ) the god
    Indra
    is the god of lightning. His main
    weapon is the thunderbolt (Vajra).
  • In
    Greek mythology
    , the thunderbolt is a
    weapon given to Zeus
    by the
    Cyclops
    . Based on this, in
    Roman mythology
    , the thunderbolt is a
    weapon given to
    Jupiter
    by the Cyclops, and is thus one
    of the emblems of Jupiter, often depicted on Greek and Roman coins and
    elsewhere as an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt which resembles
    in form a bundle of crossed sticks.
  • In
    Celtic mythology
    ,
    Taranis
    is the god of thunder, in
    Irish
    ,
    Tuireann
    .
  • In
    Germanic mythology
    ,
    Thor
    is specifically the god of thunder
    and lightning, wielding
    Mjolnir
    .
• In
  Turkish mythology
  ,
  Bayülgen
  creates the thuderbolts.
• In
  Maya mythology
  ,
  Huracan
  is sometimes represented as three
  thunderbolts.
• 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.
• In Igbo mythology
  , the thunderbolt is the
  weapon of Amadioha
  /Amadiora.
• In
  Yoruba mythology
  , the thunderbolt is the
  weapon of Shango
  .

In Christianity

The thunderbolt is a weapon and symbol associated with the
Antichrist
, in some Christian texts.

Thunderstones

The name “thunderbolt” or “thunderstone” has also been traditionally applied
to the fossilised
rostra
of
belemnoids
. The origin of these bullet-shaped
stones was not understood, and thus a mythological explanation of stones created
where a lightning struck has arisen.

In the modern world

The thunderbolt or lightning bolt continues into the modern world as a
prominent symbol; it has entered modern
heraldry
and military iconography.

In iconography

• The thunderbolt is used as an electrical symbol.
• A thunderbolt is used in the logo of the Australian hard rock band
  AC/DC
  .

In fiction

• The thunderbolt is the symbol seen on the chest of the costumes worn by
  the DC Comics
  characters
  Captain Marvel
  , the
  Flash
  , and
  Static
  .
• In the
  Harry Potter
  franchise, the scar on
  Harry’s forehead is in the shape of a thunderbolt.
• In the novel
  The Godfather
  , “being hit with the
  thunderbolt” is a Sicilian expression referring to a man being spellbound at
  the sight of a beautiful woman. The novel’s emerging main character is
  affected in this fashion and eventually marries a woman whose appearance
  initially affects him in this way.

HERCULES – This celebrated
of mythological romance was at first called Alcides, but received the name of
Hercules, or Heracles, from the Pythia of Delphos. Feigned by the poets of
antiquity to have been a son of “the Thunderer,” but born of an earthly mother,
he was exposed, through Juno’s implacable hatred to him as the offspring of
Alemena, to a course of perils, which commenced whilst he was yet in his cradle,
and under each of which he seemed to perish, but as constantly proved
victorious.

At
length finishing his allotted career with native valor and generosity, though
too frequently the submissive agent of the meanness and injustice of others, he
perished self-devotedly on the funeral pile, which was lighted on Mount Oeta.
Jupiter raised his heroic progeny to the skies; and Hercules was honored by the
pagan world, as the most illustrious of deified mortals. The extraordinary
enterprises cruelly imposed upon, but gloriously achieved, by this famous
demigod, are to be found depicted, not only on Greek coins, but also on the
Roman series both consular and imperial. The first, and one of the most
dangerous, of undertakings, well-known under the name of the twelve labors of
Hercules, was that of killing the huge lion of Nemea; on which account the
intrepid warrior is represented, clothes in the skin of that forest monarch; he
also bears uniformly a massive club, sometimes without any other arms, but at
others with a bow and quiver of arrows. On a denarius of the Antia gens he is
represented walking with trophy and club.

When his head alone is typified, as in Mucia gens, it is covered with the lion’s
spoils, in which distinctive decoration he was imitated by many princes, and
especially by those who claimed descent from him – as for example, the kings of
Macedonia, and the successors of Alexander the Great. Among the Roman emperors
Trajan is the first whose coins exhibit the figure and attributes of Hercules.