Stele of Epona (Agassac)
The so-called stele of Epona in Agassac , a French commune in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region , is a fragment of a grave stele , the relief of which is believed to represent Epona , the Celtic goddess of fertility .
The stele , which is now kept in the town hall, has been on the list of listed buildings in France as Monument historique since 1944 and served as the base of a wooden cross on the road to Isle-en-Dodon.
The stone made of white marble from Saint-Béat , measuring 67 × 44 cm, is dated between the 1st and 6th centuries. Since the depiction was interpreted as the Virgin Mary for a long time , the stone was preserved.
The relief shows a nereid or sea nymph as an amazon sitting on a horse. Rosettes can be seen at the top, which are supposed to symbolize the sun. Marine animals are shown below. The fragmentary inscription of the tabula inscriptionis on the lower left indicates that the left part of the stele is missing.
literature
- Émile Espérandieu : Recueil général des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule romaine. Volume 2. Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1908, p. 6 f. No. 843 ( digitized version ).
- Jean-Jacques Hatt : La tombe gallo-romaine. Picard, Paris 1986, p. 337 fig. 4 (reprint of the 1951 edition).
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Haute-Garonne. Flohic Editions, Volume 1, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-84234-081-7 , p. 767.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stèle d'Épona in the Base Palissy of the French Ministry of Culture (French)