InGallo-Roman religion,Epona was a protector ofhorses,ponies,donkeys, andmules. She was particularly a goddess offertility, as shown by her attributes of apatera,cornucopia, ears of grain, and the presence offoals in some sculptures.[1] She and her horses might also have beenleaders of the soul in the after-life ride, with later literary parallels inRhiannon of theMabinogion.[2] The worship of Epona, "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself",[3] as the patroness of cavalry,[4] was widespread in theRoman Empire between the first and third centuries AD; this is unusual for a Celtic deity, most of whom were associated with specific localities.
Although known only from Roman contexts, the name Epona ('Great Mare') is from theGaulish language; it is derived from the inferredProto-Celtic *ekʷos 'horse',[5] which gives rise to modernWelshebol 'foal', together with theaugmentativesuffix-on frequently, although not exclusively, found intheonyms (for exampleSirona,Matrona) and the usual Gaulish feminine singular-a.[6] In an episode preserved in a remark ofPausanias,[7] an archaicDemeter Erinys (Vengeful Demeter) too had also been a Great Mare, who was mounted byPoseidon in the form of a stallion and foaledArion andthe Daughter who was unnamed outside the Arcadian mysteries.[8] Demeter was venerated as a mare inLycosoura inArcadia into historical times.
Fernand Benoît found the earliest attestations of a religion of Epona in theDanubian provinces and asserted that she had been introduced in thelimes of Gaul by horsemen from the east.[9] That suggestion has not been generally taken up.
Although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are inLatin or, rarely,Greek. They were made not only byCelts, but also byGermans, Romans, and other inhabitants of theRoman Empire. An inscription to Epona from Mainz, Germany, identifies the dedicator as Syrian.[10]
A long Latin inscription of the first century BC, engraved in a lead sheet and accompanying the sacrifice of a filly and thevotive gift of a cauldron, was found in 1887 atRom, Deux-Sèvres, the Roman Rauranum. Olmsted reads the inscription as invoking the goddess with an archaic profusion of epithets:Eponina 'dear little Epona',Atanta 'horse-goddess',Potia 'powerful Mistress' (compare GreekPotnia),Dibonia (Latin, the 'good goddess')",Catona 'of battle', noble and goodVovesia.[citation needed] However, Olmsted's interpretation has not been generally accepted by other scholars; Meid interprets the same inscription as an invocation ofDibona in vulgar Greek for aid in a romantic dispute.[11]
Epona's feast day in the Roman calendar was given as December 18 on a rustic calendar fromGuidizzolo, Italy,[12] although this may have been only a local celebration. She was incorporated into theimperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, asEpona Augusta orEpona Regina.
The supposed autonomy of Celtic civilization in Gaul[clarification needed] suffered a further setback with Fernand Benoît's study[13] of the funereal symbolism of the horseman with the serpent-tailed ("anguiforme") daemon, which he established as a theme of victory over death, and Epona; both he found to be late manifestations of Mediterranean-influenced symbolism, which had reached Gaul through contacts withEtruria andMagna Graecia. Benoît compared the rider with most of the riders imaged around the Mediterranean shores.
Perceptions of native Celtic goddesses had changed under Romanhegemony: only the names remained the same.[citation needed] As Gaul was Romanized under the early Empire, Epona's sovereign role evolved into a protector of cavalry.[14] The cult of Epona was spread over much of the Roman Empire by the auxiliary cavalry,alae, especially the Imperial Horse Guard orequites singulares augustii recruited fromGaul,Lower Germany, andPannonia. A series of their dedications to Epona and other Celtic, Roman, and German deities was found in Rome, at the Lateran.[15] Her cult is said to have been "widespread also inCarinthia andStyria".[16]
AsEpane she is attested inCantabria, northern Spain, onMount Bernorio, Palencia;[17] asIccona Loiminna[dubious –discuss] in Portugal on theLusitanian inscription ofCabeço das Fráguas.
Aeuhemeristic account of Epona's origin occurs in theParallela Minora, which were traditionally attributed toPlutarch (but are now classed as "Pseudo-Plutarch"):
Fulvius Stellus hated women and used to consort with a mare and in due time the mare gave birth to a beautiful girl and they named her Epona. She is the goddess that is concerned with the protection of horses. SoAgesilaüs in the third book of hisItalian History.[18]
The tale was passed along in the context of unseemly man-beast coupling inGiambattista Della Porta's edition ofMagia naturalis (1589), a potpourri of the sensible and questionable, erroneously citing Plutarch'sLife of Solon.[19] It may represent some recollection ofIndo-Europeanhorse sacrifice, such as theVedicashvamedha and theIrish ritual described by Giraldus Cambrensis, both of which have to do with kingship. In the Celtic ritual, the king mates with a white mare thought to embody the goddess of sovereignty.[20][21]
Sculptures of Epona fall into five types, as distinguished by Benoît: riding, standing or seated before a horse, standing or seated between two horses, a tamer of horses in the manner ofpotnia theron, and the symbolic mare and foal. In the Equestrian type, common inGaul, she is depicted sitting side-saddle on a horse or (rarely) lying on one; in the Imperial type (more common outside Gaul) she sits on a throne flanked by two or more horses or foals.[22] In distantDacia, she is represented on astela (now at the Szépmüvézeti Museum, Budapest) in the format ofCybele, seated frontally on a throne with her hands on the necks of her paired animals: her horses are substitutions for Cybele's lions.
Epona is mentioned inThe Golden Ass byApuleius, where anaedicular niche with her image on a pillar in a stable has been garlanded with freshly picked roses.[23]
In hisSatires, the Roman poetJuvenal also links the worship and iconography of Epona to the area of a stable.[24] Small images of Epona have been found in Roman sites of stables and barns over a wide territory.
InThe Legend of Zelda franchise, the main character Link's horse is namedEpona. The horse is always shown as a palomino or flaxen chestnut mare with a white mane.
ArtistEnya'snamesake album of 1987 contains a track titledEpona, as part of the soundtrack of the BBC documentaryThe Celts.[25]
The probable date of c. 1380–550 BC ascribed to thegiant chalk horse carved into the hillside turf atUffington, in southern England, may be too early to be directly associated with Epona and may not actually represent a horse at all. TheWest Country traditionalhobby-horse riders parading onMay Day atPadstow, Cornwall andMinehead, Somerset, which survived to the mid-20th century, despiteMorris dances having been forgotten, was thought by folklorists through the 20th Century to have deep roots in the veneration of Epona, as may the British aversion to eating horsemeat.[26] At Padstow, at the end of the festivities, the hobby-horse was formerly ritually submerged in the sea.[27] However, there is no firm evidence of the festival before the 18th century.
A provincial, small (7.5 cm high) Roman bronze of a seated Epona, flanked by an "extremely small" mare and stallion, was found in England.[28] Lying on her lap and on thepatera raised in her right hand are disproportionately large ears of grain; ears of grain also protrude from the mouths of the ponies, whose heads are turned toward the goddess. On her left arm she holds a yoke, which curves up above her shoulder, an attribute unique to this bronze statuette.[29]
In the medievalWelsh collection of stories known as theMabinogion, the regal figure ofRhiannon rides a white horse, whose slow, effortless gait supernaturally outpaces all pursuit. Wrongly accused of killing her offspring, Rhiannon has to play the role of horse for seven years as punishment, offering to carry travellers to the court and telling them her story; she also wears the work-collar of an ass. She and her son, who is fathered by the sea-god (cf Romano-GreekPoseidon, god of horses and the sea), are sometimes described as mare and foal[30] Ronald Hutton is skeptical of connections claimed between Epona and Rhiannon; the latter is a much later, literary creation, though it also draws on oral traditions now lost.[31] A south Welsh folk ritual calledMari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is still undertaken in December, which some folklorists likewise have held up as an apparent survival of the veneration of Epona, but again there is no firm evidence to support the age, origins or purpose of the practice.
OnMackinac Island, Michigan, Epona is celebrated each June with stable tours, a blessing of the animals and the Epona and Barkus Parade. Mackinac Island does not permit personal automobiles; the primary source of transportation remains the horse, so celebrating Epona has special significance on this island in the upper midwest.[32] The "Feast of Epona" involves the blessing of horses and other animals by a local churchman.[33]
Epona is also worshipped today byneo-druids[34] and otherpagans and polytheists.[35]
The Goddess name inspired the name of the EPONA (Energetic Particle Onset Admonitor) instrument on theGiotto spacecraft.[36]
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