ORIGIN: Celtic [Gallic]
TYPE: Horse Goddess with Fertility Connotations.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 400 BCE and probably earlier until Christianization (Circa CE 400).
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Probably originating from Alesia in Gaul but spreading extensively including Rome.
ART REFERENCES: stone and bronze statuettes (mainly Luxembourg and Cote d'Or); Various monumental carvings.
LITERARY SOURCES: Inscriptions
INFORMATION: A popular equestrian goddess closely allied with the Celtic trade in, and domestic use of, horses. Concerned with healing and with the fertility of domestic animals. The cult probably originated from Alesia in the heartland of Gallic resistance and location of Vercingetorix's final stand against Julius Caesar. She is arguably the only Celtic goddess to have been worshiped in Rome itself and her popularity was spread throughout the regions of Roman occupation (see also Morrigan). Her festival was celebrate on December 18.
Epona is typically depicted with mares and foals, usually riding side-saddle or merely in association with horses. She also holds cornucopiae, sheaves of corn, and other fruits suggestion an ancillary role. as a vegetation goddess. Epona is also, on occasion, linked with dogs and birds.
Votive inscriptions have been found at Allerey, Armancon and Essay (Cote d'Or), Jabreilles, Luxeuil, Santanay and others where sometimes she is alone with horse(s) and sometimes she is depicted with the "mothers" (See Matres). She was particularly worshiped by Roman cavalry regiments. At Armancon she rides in a cart reminiscent of the "Tour" of other northern fertility goddesses (see Nerthus). In other circumstances Epona figurines are found associated with burial grounds such as La Horgue au Sablon illustrating the common link, well attested in ancient and modern cults, between fertility and death. Epona may also be enshrined close to thermal springs under which circumstance she often appears naked like a water nymph, e.g. Allery and Saulon-la-Chapelle.