Common to the peoples of antiquity, often without writing, was the god of thunder. The commonality was that he undoubtedly commanded thunder and lightning, and among many nations he defeated snakes and dragons. Further biographies of higher powers diverged.
Traditions of antiquity deep
First you need to pay attention to India as a source of languages and gods, which are distributed throughout, as the Greeks said, Oykumene. Indra - the god of thunder and rain in ancient times. He is powerful, horny, generous and thousand-eyed. God owns military power, and the caste of ksatriya warriors especially reveres him. A special feat of Indra was the victory over the serpent Vritra, the demon of chaos. The giant snake frightened even the gods, and they were afraid that he would swallow the whole world. And they turned to Indra for help.
Brahma inspired him to battle, Shiva gave him impenetrable armor, the artisan god forged him a "vajra", hard as a diamond, and Vishnu gave him inexhaustible strength. With one swipe, the head of
the demon dragon cut the head of
the demon dragon . But the roar of a dying monster was so terrible that everyone hid, and only when a little time passed, Indra went on reconnaissance and saw the defeated enemy.
Far north
Thunder God Thor was the son of Odin, the supreme deity of the Scandinavians. The weapon of this red-bearded hero was a hammer, which undoubtedly had a sacred meaning: forging reality and victory over space.
But in his last battle, Thor dies, destroying the world serpent.
Peloponnese and the banks of the Tiber
On the land of Hellas, the powerful Zeus ruled the gods and people. In a sense, albeit very conditional, it is the same god of the thunderstorm, for in his hands a formidable weapon is lightning. Having defeated the titans, Zeus is no longer fighting. He is a judge, and as a last resort, both people and gods turn to him for a fair trial. Among the Romans, he fully corresponds to the supreme deity Jupiter. And originally it was the god of a thunderstorm (sky, rain and thunder).
In Mesopotamia
The Sumerians are a mysterious people. It is not known where they came from five thousand years ago, how they began to possess the most incredible knowledge. They came up with everything themselves. They created writing and writing down their legends. They got irrigation. Having built canals and diverted water from the Tigris and Euphrates into the fields, the Sumerians received a garden of paradise on earth. In addition, this is how they fought floods. They domesticated almost all the animals we know. The potter's wheel, counting (decimal and hexadecimal), brewing, wheel and bricks are also their inventions. They erected huge palaces and towers - ziggurats, which were built to meet the gods. And their main city (Babylon, or Bab-El) was called the Gate of God. Here, on their towers built to the skies, they met Ishkur. It was the Sumerian thunder god. Initially, people in the northern arid territories respected the power that helped grow grains and crops. And it was rain and thunderstorm with a cloud, which the Sumerians represented as a huge bird. And the thunder caused associations with the roar of a lion. So Ishkur appeared in the beliefs.
He was, according to British information, the son of the
god of the moon and was portrayed as a big bull. If it was visualized in a human form, then in his hands he held his symbols: lightning and a plug. He harnessed seven winds, and lightning flew ahead, terrifying all living things. He was worshiped throughout Babylonia, but Karkar was his main city. At the same time, livestock, agriculture, hunting and military campaigns were under his auspices. After the Sumerians, the Akkadians appeared the god Adad, performing the same functions as Ishkur. He is better known to historians. The bull was his symbol. This god is bearded and holds lightning in his hands. Even later, his name is Baal or Baal.
Slavic god
On a high hill under a sacred oak sits a gray-haired, wise and formidable husband - Perun. The God of the Slavs is the lord over everything, he creates lightning, sacrifices in the form of bulls are offered to him. In Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish, the word “perun” meant lightning and thunder. Therefore, the god of thunderstorms among the Slavs is Perun. When cultivating the land, the Slavs found petrified mollusks, stone arrowheads and spears in it and believed that they appeared during a lightning strike on the ground, and they were very much valued as amulets given by the deity.
The keeper of the prince and his squad was Perun. The God of the Slavs owned the ax, and when they entered the squad, the soldiers were given hatchets. These were prestigious amulets and a sign of belonging to the elect. The shield and sword that the warriors received were also symbols of Perun. The first written records of him are found in The Tale of Bygone Years. The idol established by Vladimir had a silver head and a golden mustache.
Perun was born in winter, but appeared on the ground with the first thunderstorms and warm days. By sending rain to the ground, he became a fertilizer.
With him, nature awakened to life. And on warm summer days, lists were held dedicated to the formidable, punishing god, and they carried out tridents on soldiers who fell in battle. They ate roasted bulls, drank strong alcoholic honey and kvass. Initiating young people into war at this time, the Rusichs conducted tests, and only after that they were given weapons.
Perun's day was Thursday, which was considered masculine and successful for all endeavors. In the period of dual faith, this day was dedicated to Elijah the prophet, the Christian saint Elijah. It was believed that on Ilyin’s day, summer ends. Dual faith was entrenched in the popular consciousness, and Ilya the prophet became the lord of lightning, thunder, rain, harvest and fertility. So the connection of the pagan thunderer and the Christian saint manifested itself.
Scientists believe that Perun was undoubtedly associated with the ancient Indian Thunderer Indra and the Scandinavian Thor, which were mentioned above. All of them are anthropomorphic, command the forces of nature and live in heaven.