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The Uffington White Horse
Epona
can be traced back under that name to the Gallic peoples of what is now
northern France. However as these people, along with the Celts, are descendants
of tribal peoples who came from the east, spreading up along the Danube
valley into central and western Europe, it is not surprising that kindred
peoples have the horse as a primary totem deity as the horse would have
been vital for a wandering people.
The worship
of the horse had certainly spread to Britain by the Bronze Age. The most
famous of all horse monuments, the White Horse of Uffington, has been
dated to around 1400 BCE. This figure is carved deep into solid chalk
on a Berkshire hillside.
Despite the loss of the Gallic kings to the Roman invasion Epona's worship flourished as she was adopted by the cavalry legions and spread throughout the empire. There is evidence, from writings such as "The Golden Ass" of Apuleus, that she spread further from just being a goddess of the cavalry into being a goddess of anyone who worked or had dealings with horses
Goddess Epona
The name Epona derives from the Celtic word for horse. She was a Celtic
horse-goddess whose iconography was linked with equine symbolism. She
is known in Wales as Rhiannon, and Macha in Ireland. Many images and dedications
were set up throughout the Celtic world during the Roman period. She was
particularly venerated in Gaul and in the Rhineland, but she appears also
in Britain, Yugoslavia, North Africa, and in Rome. The special interest
of Epona's cult lay in her images. In fact she is always represented with
her equine companion(s). The Goddess was associated with water, fertility,
healing and with death and rebirth. In Gaul she was depicted in the guise
of a water nymph. Frequently, she was also represented with a dog which
could reflect either healing or death. The symbolism of afterlife may
be represented by her on her mare with the image of a man behind the goddess.
This has been interpreted as a human soul carried to the Otherworld. Also
she can be portrayed carrying a large key -- this may show the ability
of Epona to unlock the gates of heaven and the Otherworld.
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