Epona (mythology)

Epona relief from Kapersburg Castle , exhibition in the Wetterau Museum in Friedberg (Hesse).

Epona , more rarely also called Epana , is a Celtic goddess of fertility and the Roman goddess of horses . The name derives from the Gallic word epic "horse" (related to gleichbedeutendem Irish ech and welsh ebol "foals") from. It bears the title Regani several times on inscriptions .

Königsbach Epona relief on the north wall of the former fortified church

Spread and Mythology

Horse goddess Epona Gallo-Roman temple district in AP Cambodunum

Stele from Freimingen-Merlenbach (Lorraine) 3rd century AD

The worship of Eponas was widespread in the entire Celtic area (Celticum) during the times of the Celts and Gallo-Romans from antiquity to late antiquity , which is attested by around 60 dedicatory inscriptions. Epona was mostly depicted with horses, often with a bowl, fruit or a cornucopia, which suggests an additional function as the fertility goddess. In northern Italy it is associated with the Kalendae (first of the month) of Januarius (January) in an inscription .

The Roman troops took over Epona as the goddess of horses and cavalry, whereby she was worshiped not only as the patron goddess of the cavalry, but also the charioteer. In late antiquity, the festival of Epona was celebrated in the vicinity of Mantua on December 18th. According to information from Juvenal (Satires 8.155–157) and Apuleius (Metamorphoses 3.27.2), figures of the goddess were worshiped in small shrines near horse stables. Juvenal mocks the Roman nobility because, like grooms at Epona, the "figure on stinking stable walls" , she would swear; Apuleius mentions the rose as an ornament of cult images. Minucius Felix (Octavius ​​28,7) also names horses and donkeys adorned with roses, which would sometimes be sacrificed in honor of Epona. The goddess is also mentioned in Tertullian (Apologeticum 16.3; Ad nationes 1.11).

As the mother and country goddess, she is seen in her function as a helper in need. Epona is often compared to the Welsh goddess Rhiannon , but no such reference can be substantiated by either the literary or the archaeological sources. In Plutarch (mor. 312E) the conception of Eponas is explained by the union of a misogynous (women-hating) Roman named Fulvius Stella with a mare.

In an artificial cave in Marquínez, a district of the municipality of Bernedo Álava in the Montaña Alavesa region of Spain , there is a rock engraving that has been identified by some scholars as the goddess Epona. The relief shows a man and a woman on horseback. The latter is interpreted as a representation of the goddess Epona and the former as a prayer or follower.

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Celtic mythology
• List of deities in the Asterix comics

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Stéphanie Boucher:  Epona . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume V, Zurich / Munich 1990, pp. 985-999.
• Marion Euskirchen: Epona. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , column 2.
• Marion Euskirchen: Epona . In: Reports of the Roman-Germanic Commission . Volume 74, 1993, pp. 607-850.
• Roland Gschlössl: In the melting pot of religions. Exchange of gods among Celts, Romans and Teutons. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-8053-3655-0 , pp. 47-59.
• Johann Baptist Keune : Epona . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 1, Stuttgart 1907, Col. 228-243.
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 114 f.
• Rudolf Peter: Epona . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Sp. 1286-1293 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Epona  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Epona.net - Further information on Epona (English)
• Information about Epona (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ AE 1993, 01370 [3 dea] e (?) Eponae / Reg (inae) pro salu (te) d (omini) / n (ostri) M (arci) Aur (eli) Antonini [Pii] / Fel (icis) Aug (usti) Valerius Ruf (us?) / B (ene) f (iciarius) co (n) s (ularis) leg (ionis) / XI Cl (audiae) Anto / ninianae V [3] / Lae (to) II et Ceria [le co (n) s (ulibus)] ;
   CIL III, 12679 I (ovi) O (ptimo) M (aximo) / Epon (a) e Regin (ae) / Genio loci / P (ublius) Bennius Eg / regius mil (es) / coh (ortis) vol (untariorum ) adiu [t (or)] / princ (ipis) b (ene) f (iciarius) co (n) s (ularis) v (otum) s (olvit) ;
   CIL III, 07750 Epon (a) e Regin [ae] / sac [tae] C (aius) 3 / [[S [3]]] leg (atus) / Aug (usti) pr (o) pr (aetore) co (n) s (ularis) / Dac (iarum) III [3] / [6] / [1] V [3] / nus [3] sale / [3] ienti [
2. ↑ AE 1892, 00083 ] / XIII / XII / XI / [X] / VIIII / VIII / VII / VI / V / IIII / III / pr [id (ie)] // X [V] / XIIII / XIII / XII / XI / X / VIIII / VIII / VII / VI / V / IIII / III / prid (ie) // [II] I Idus [I] u [l (ias)] / Apolli [nar (ia)] / XK (alendas) Aug (ustas) / Neptun [al (ia)] / Idibus Au [g (ustis)] / Diana (e) / XK (alendas) Septem (bres) / Volkanalia / III Idus Decem (bres) / Septimontiu ( m) / XVI K (alendas) Ianuar (ias) / Saturnalia / XV K (alendas) Ia [n] uar (ias) / Epon (a) e
3. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 526 f.
4. ^ For the first time by Henri Hubert : Le mythe d'Epona. In: Jules Bloch (Ed.): Mélanges linguistiques offerts à M. Joseph Vendryes. Librairie Ancienne Edouard Champion, Paris 1925, pp. 189-198.
5. ↑ Gerhard Bauchhenß : Epona - Archaeological to a Gallo-Roman goddess. In: Bernhard Maier , Stefan Zimmer (eds.): 150 years of "Mabinogion" - German-Welsh cultural relations (= book series of the magazine for Celtic philology. Volume 19). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2001, pp. 11-22, here esp. 18-22.