Tag: Thunder
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Fossils as thunderstones
In many parts of southern England until the middle of the nineteenth century, another name commonly used for fossil Echinoids was ‘thunderstone’, though other fossils such as belemnites and (rarely) ammonites were also used for this purpose. In 1677 Dr. Robert Plot, the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, published his classic book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Plot recorded that in Oxfordshire what are now…
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Humans have been interested in echinoid fossils (the fossilised remains of sea urchins) for millennia, considering them lucky and imbuing them with magical powers linked to their deities
A folk tradition in Denmark and southern England imagined sea urchin fossils to be thunderbolts, able to ward off harm by lightning or by witchcraft, as an apotropaic symbol. Another version supposed they were petrified eggs of snakes, able to protect against heart and liver disease, poisons, and injury in battle, and accordingly they were carried as amulets. These were,…
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Dis Pater aka Rex Infernus, Roman god of the underworld, contracted from Dives Pater (“Father of Riches”)
Dīs Pater (Dītis Patris), otherwise known as Rex Infernus or Pluto, is a Roman god of the underworld. Dis was originally associated with fertile agricultural land and mineral wealth, and since those minerals came from underground, he was later equated with the chthonic deities Pluto (Hades) and Orcus. Dīs Pater’s name was commonly shortened to Dīs, and this name has since become an alternative name for the underworld or a part…
