Explore the pantheons

The tasseled, dread-inspiring shield-cloak of Zeus, more often borne by Athena, fringed with terror and set with the Gorgon's head. To hold it aloft is to rout an army with fear alone.

The great bow of Heracles, its arrows envenomed with Hydra's blood; prophecy held that Troy could not fall without it.

The most terrible of celestial weapons, invoked by mantra and answerable to Brahma, capable of laying waste to armies and lands. The epics warn that two loosed against each other could scorch the world barren.

The winged staff twined with two serpents carried by Hermes, messenger of the gods, with which he guides souls to the underworld and lulls or wakes the eyes of mortals.

The unbreakable bow given to Arjuna by the fire-god Agni, sounding like thunder and never failing in battle. Inseparable from its hero, it wins the war at Kurukshetra and is surrendered only when his age is done.

The embroidered girdle of Aphrodite that makes its wearer irresistible; Hera borrows it to beguile Zeus in the Iliad.

The gleaming fleece of a flying golden ram, hung in a sacred grove and guarded by a sleepless dragon. Jason and the Argonauts sailed to the edge of the world to win it and reclaim a throne.

The helm of Hades, forged by the Cyclopes, that renders its wearer unseen. Lent to gods and heroes, it shrouded Perseus as he escaped the surviving Gorgons.

The mighty mace of Vishnu, one of his four emblems along with the discus, conch, and lotus.

The tortoise-shell lyre invented by the infant Hermes and traded to Apollo, who made it the instrument of music and poetry.

Krishna's conch-shell trumpet, won from a slain sea-demon, whose blast opens the war of the Mahabharata.

The great jar, later mistranslated a "box," that Pandora opened, loosing every evil upon the world and leaving only hope within.

The battle-axe given by Shiva to Parashurama, the "Rama with the axe," with which he cleared the earth of tyrant kings.

The most destructive of Shiva's weapons, granted to Arjuna after his mountain penance; it may never be loosed against a lesser foe.

The great bow of Shiva; the breaking of such a bow at her bridegroom-contest wins Sita for Rama.

A flying palace-chariot that moves at its owner's will, originally Kubera's, seized by Ravana, and flown home by Rama across all of India after the fall of Lanka.

The celestial bow of Vishnu, counterpart to Shiva's Pinaka, carried by his avatars Rama and Krishna.

The shield forged for Achilles by Hephaestus, its surface engraved with the whole world at war and peace, described at length in the Iliad.

The whirling, razor-edged discus of Vishnu and his avatar Krishna, loosed to behead demons and returned to the finger. It is both weapon and emblem of the wheel of time and cosmic order.

The golden winged sandals that bear their wearer swift as the wind over sea and land. Worn by Hermes on his errands and lent to Perseus for the killing of Medusa.

The bolt of lightning forged by the Cyclopes and given to Zeus after the Titanomachy, the instrument of his sovereignty. With it he cast down the Titans and the giant Typhon and enforces the order of Olympus.

The three-pronged spear with which Poseidon rules the sea, raises storms and earthquakes, and struck the rock of the Acropolis in his contest with Athena.

The three-pronged spear of Shiva, its points named for the three gunas and the three times, past, present, and future. With it the great god destroys ignorance and the worlds at the ending of an age.

The indestructible thunderbolt-mace of Indra, forged from the bones of the sage Dadhichi, with which the storm-king split the dragon Vritra and freed the waters. Its name means both "thunderbolt" and "diamond".