Aside from Hesiod, Zeus’s thunderbolt continues to appear throughout ancient literature. Herodotus’s Histories show us how the ancients attempted to link myth to reality. Herodotus explains that lightning from a storm tends to hit the highest objects in an environment, such as the tallest tree, because of Zeus’s pettiness: he cannot let his pride be injured by some other thing surpassing him in size and greatness. Zeus was known to use his thunderbolt to strike down his enemies, ex-lovers, and anyone, or indeed anything, that generally displeased him. It is hard to ignore the symbolism: an electrifyingly powerful weapon in the hands of a god with a thunderous temper.