 From the earliest ages there have been inscriptions of women mounted on horses and charioteers, mounted on coins from the Iron Age, and may have represented horse related Goddesses. Women and horses are linked in the traditions of the Welsh Rhiannon who was described as a beautiful woman dressed in gold and riding a white Horse, and the Irish Macha one of the Great Queens and Ladies of Ireland, who reigned in 300 BC.
Epona’s name is derived from the Celtic language Gaulish, ‘epos’ horse or ‘epa’ mare, and is ‘The Goddess of Horses’ and ‘Horse Breeding’. As mares were often used as working animals on the farms, it has been said that Epona was also Goddess of Fertility of the Land and the Domestic Cult.
Her worship became very widespread, with over 300 representations and inscriptions bearing her name, she was adopted by the Roman Cavalry soldiers throughout the Roman Empire, being a God, she was able to offer them protection for both the soldier and the horse. So popular was she that she became the only Celtic Deity to have a festival celebrated in Rome on December 18th.
All the representations have a horse present, she is often sitting sideways on a mare, sometimes a suckling mare. Other times she is standing or sitting beside, or between horses and sometimes feeding the horses.
Epona holds symbols of plenty like the cornucopia, a patera full of grain or fruit. She often appears with icons or inscriptions with the Mother Goddesses, like the triple Goddesses, there are several inscriptions where Epona has triple inscriptions and the dedication is in the plural 'Eponas'.
As statues of Epona have been associated with healing springs, it is thought she may have been invoked for the healing of horses, although many Celtic Gods were involved in healing practises.
Eponas image appears on many tombstones and on graves, one with her on horseback, with a man standing behind her, which has been interpreted as her taking his soul on horseback to the Otherworld. She is shown holding a key or mappa, a type of napkin to begin races, linking her to the beginnings and endings.
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The Giant Chalk Horse carved into the hillside at Uffington in Southern Britain is believed to be in some way connected to her although the date of the monument circa 1400 BC may be a little early for her.
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