Epona

Epona is the celebrated Celtic goddess of horses, mares, foals, mules, and cavalrymen, worshipped extensively throughout Gaul, Germany, the Danube Valley, and the Iberian Peninsula. Holding a peerless status within the Celtic pantheon, Epona was the sole deity of strictly non-Roman 'barbarian' origin to be officially incorporated into the state religion of the Roman Empire, with her public festival celebrated on December 18 in the official Roman calendar (as recorded in the Fasti of Guidizzolo). Fervently adopted by the mounted auxiliaries of the Roman army (alae and cohortes equitatae) and preeminently by the emperor's elite horse guards in Rome (the Equites Singulares Augusti), Epona safeguarded riders, ensured the health of stables, promoted equine fertility, and protected travelers along imperial roads. Classical Roman writers, including Apuleius (in The Golden Ass) and Juvenal (in Satires), recorded her daily veneration, describing domestic shrines and statues of Epona adorned with garlands of fresh roses attached to central stable pillars. In Metamorphoses 3.27, Lucius reaches for the roses in Epona’s shrine and is beaten by the stable boy; this is a literary episode, not evidence of a universal rite.

6 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research

The horse, the mare with foal, the cornucopia and the keys

Primary sources

• Apuleius / W. Adlington and S. Gaselee (trans.), Metamorphoses: The Golden Ass (Book III, chapter 27: The Sanctuary of Epona in the Stable). translation: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1915. read
• Juvenal / G. G. Ramsay (trans.), Satires (Satire VIII, lines 155–157: The Oath by Epona). translation: Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, Londres, 1918. read
• Theodor Mommsen and Wilhelm Henzen (eds.), Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL VI: Inscriptiones Urbis Romae, Dedication of the Equites Singulares to Epona). translation: Reimer, Berlin, 1876.
• Attilio Degrassi (ed.), Inscriptiones Italiae (Fasti Guidizzolenses: The Festival of Epona on 18 December). translation: Libreria dello Stato, Roma, 1947.

Studies

• John Arnott MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts (Chapter III: The Gods of Gaul - Epona). T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1911. open
• Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Celtic Goddesses: Warriors, Virgins and Mothers (The Mare Goddess and the Military Cult). British Museum Press, London, 1995. open
• Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology (Epona and the Celtic Equine Tradition). Hamlyn, London, 1970. open
• Charles Squire, Celtic Myth and Legend (The Horse Goddess in the Roman World). Gresham Publishing, London, 1905. open