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Epona

The Sacred Mare |  Celtic Horse Goddess | La jument sacrée |  Heilige Stute

Epona is a Celtic theonnym derived from epos 'horse' and the divine suffix. It can be translated as 'divine mare' or 'sacred mare'. And indeed, we find a large quantity of representations of a goddess associated with horses. In Roman times, Epona is widely attested - in sculpture and Latin inscriptions.
We find two major types of Epona representations (see also: Epona website [external])

• Epona sitting sideways on a horse (not 'sidesaddle', but both of the goddess's legs usually on the offside).
  
• Epona sitting like a mother goddess on a chair or throne, surrounded by horses.

But it is perhaps more important to focus on the other forms of representations - the unusual ones - like a bas-relief from Reims showing the anthropomorphic goddess virtually flying over a horse, with a foal underneath (see image below).
The link between mare and foal seems to be quite important, as we shall see when we discuss the connections between Epona and Rhiannon.

For many, Epona is merely the protectress of horses and travellers. This impression is supported by Classical literature, like in Apuleius' 2nd-century CE novel "Metamorphoses" (aka "The Golden Ass") where we read:

[3.27] These thoughts were interrupted by my catching sight of a statue of the goddess Epona seated in a small shrine centrally placed, where a pillar supported the roof-beams in the middle of a stable. The statue had been devotedly garlanded with freshly picked roses.

What seems to have happened is that there was no comparable 'horse deity' in the Graeco-Roman pantheon, and therefore people - perhaps at first soldiers in the Roman legions and auxiliaries as well as merchants and traders - appropriated the Celtic goddess. But they primarily focused on a very pragmatic function: protecting horses and travellers.

But this was no longer the 'Celtic' Epona!
We need to piece together the evidence to find out her importance in pre-Roman 'Celtic' mythology and religions? Scroll down for more information...

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EPONA SCULPTURES FROM ROMAN TIMES | SCULPTURES ROMAINES D'EPONA | RÖM. EPONA-SKULPTUREN

The Rhiannon-Epona Connection | La connexion entre Rhiannon et Epona | Die Rhiannon-Epona Beziehung

Claude Sterckx has quite convincingly demonstrated the structural parallels between the Gallo-Roman Epona and the account on Rhiannon in the Welsh Mabinogi (or Mabinogion) (see Sterckx 1986, 45-7).

Who is Rhiannon?

• The etymology is interesting: Rhiannon is generally considered to derive from Old Celtic (Brittonic) *Rīgantonā with rīgan- meaning 'queen'. We should keep this in mind when discussing the dedications to the 'Queen', Regina, or 'Juno Queen', from the Celtic-speaking provinces of the Roman empire.
• Rhiannon appears prominently in the Mabinogi, a collection of 'stories' written in medieval Welsh. The Mabinogi clearly seems to incorporate much older material: there are a number of parallels between medieval myths (i.e. the Mabinogi) and our evidence from pre-Roman and Roman names. But we must remember that the stories were written down in a Christian period and instead of powerful gods, the actors are described as kings and queens; moreover, it is likely that the author/composer(s) of the Mabinogi recyced stories, legends and myths of diverse origin, i.e. we must expect the stores to provide a coherent 'Celtic mythology'. For an English translation of the Mabinogi, please click here or here; for the Welsh version click here;
• Rhiannon first appears in a story where she is observed by Pwyll (decribed as prince of Dyfed):
  Rhiannon is riding on a slow-moving (magical?) white horse. Despite its apparent slowness her horse cannot be overtaken. Eventually, Pwyll calls her and ends up marrying her...
  

Just a coincidence or is Epona and her horse riding towards the mound, like Rhiannon was riding towards Pwyll in the Mabinogi...? (3rd-century CE stele depicting EPONA, from Freyming; Musée Lorraine, Nancy

The goddess Epona with mare and a sleeping foal. Notice the unusual 'reclining' position of the goddess... Relief from Allerey (Côte d'Or, Burgundy, today in the Museum of Dijon; photo: R.H.)

And while he sat there, they saw a lady, on a pure white horse of large size, with a garment of shining gold around her, coming along the highway that led from the mound; and the horse seemed to move at a slow and even pace, and to be coming up towards the mound. “My men,” said Pwyll, “is there any among you who knows yonder lady?” “There is not, Lord,” said they. (........)  ..said Pwyll, “go unto the palace, and take the fleetest horse that thou seest, and go after her.” And he took a horse and went forward. And he came to an open level plain, and put spurs to his horse; and the more he urged his horse, the further was she from him. Yet she held the same pace as at first. And his horse began to fail....
(click here for original source)

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• Three year's later, Rhianon eventually gives birth to a son. But the child vanishes and Rhiannon is accused of infanticide and canabalism. As punishment she has to carry visitors to the court on her back. Meanwhile, a parallel story happens nearby where a mare, owned by Teyrnon, loses her foal year after year. On one occasion, Teyron discovers a monster in the stable, cuts of his claws, and then discovers Rhiannon's lost child (Pryderi).
  
• We therefore see a connection between Rhiannon, the mare and a foal, which seems to resemble, among others, the 'Epona' relief from Dijon.
  

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Epona sitting on a chair surrounded by two horses (or foals) (in the Museum Worms, Andreasstift)

EPONA - Goddess of fertility, fecundity & re-birth | déesse de la fertilité, de la fécondité et de la re-naissance | Göttin der Fruchtbarkeit & Wiedergeburt

If this was the case then Epona’s function would have to be understood in the context of a complex myth concerning rebirth and fertility of men, animals and soil.
The deity would be the ‘mother goddess’: mother and wife of (what Caesar called) Dispater and part of a perpetual cycle of life and death (see Sterckx 1986, 92-3; Duval 1976, 49-51).
In pre-Roman iconography we might identify Epona and aspects of the Rhiannon myth on coins and sculpture: a goddess on horseback and, even more common, depictions of a mare, often accompanied by a her foal.
She is thus a chtonic goddess with comparable functions to mother earth: "Terra Mater" (see section: Supreme Celtic Goddess). And therefore, we could see the myth of the sacred mare (Rhiannon/Epona) as a metaphor for the conflict between chthonic and celestial forces, whereby only the union between the two creates fertility and fecundity. This brings us to the representation of a/the 'native' god of thunder on horseback.

Further Reading on Epona

On Epona, see for example:

• The Website EPONA: http://www.epona.net/introduction.html;
• very important article by Marion Euskirchen (1994) "Epona". Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 74, 1994, 607-838.
  
• Ralph Haeussler (2008) How to identify Celtic religions, in: Divinidades indigenas em analise: LINK.
  
• On Rhiannon in the Mabinogi, see also: Jessica Hemming 1998. Reflections on Rhianon and the Horse Episodes in 'Pwyll'. Western Folklore 56.1 (on JSTOR)
  
• Claude Sterckx, Éléments de cosmogonie celtique. Bruxelles, Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1986.
  

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