ceraunoscope

plural ceraunoscopes

1. historicalAn instrument or apparatus employed in the ancient Greek mysteries to imitate thunder and lightning.

   The machine with which these effects were produced on the stage was called a ceraunoscope.

   1827, Thomas Moore, The Epicurean, page 185

   3 more examples

   The ceraunoscope is mentioned by many authors as capable of producing the most startling effects.

   1841 December 28, J.S. Ancona, The Churchman, a Magazine in Support of the Church of England, page 805

   By means of images reflected in concave mirrors, the ceraunoscope (by which thunder was produced), and the secrets of chemistry and mechanics with which they were acquainted, the priests were enabled to maintain an unbounded influence over their devotees.

   1873, Henry Sneyd, Cyllene; Or, The Fall of Paganism, volume II, page 298

   Since I have not been able to discover the mechanics of the original, presumably mechanical ceraunoscope, I don't know how the earliest re-creators of lightning and thunder approached their task.

   2002, Andrew Glassner, Andrew Glassner's Other Notebook: Further Recreations in Computer Graphics, page 81