Re: Epona in the Fasti

Author: * Nantonos Aedui - 18 Posts on this thread out of 210 Posts sitewide.
Date: May 17, 2004 - 19:38

I'm afraid I have found nothing more on the subject than the mention of Epona in one of the Fasti, and in that no more than the appearance of Her name.

Sorry to be dense, but I want a citable reference to that - who wrote the Fasti, when? Are they online? If not, are they published in a book?

All other information I had learned came from mi amici in Britannia. They knew something of Her cultus in Britannia and Gaul, but nothing that was specifically Roman.

That's odd, because Epona is fairly rare in Britain and ocurs exclusively in a Roman military context. Epona in other provinces such as the Gauls, the Germainies, Pannonia, etc occurs in an exclusively Roman context, but not always a military one.

But as for Epona, everything I find relates to Her Celtic images, even in Roman settings, and nothing of a Roman connection.

I have not seen any Celtic (as in, pre-conquest) images of Epona at all; if you know of any I would be glad of a reference.

Not anything on how early She was adopted into Roman cultus either, but I assume this was early empire as I have found nothing yet to make an earlier connection

I agree that early Empire is the earliest date. The earliest Epona reference that I am aware of is a wall painting from Pompei, which must predate the eruption of Vesuvius on 79ce. This means that there is a total absence of evidence from the conquest of Gaul in 52 bce for at least a century. Ceffyl and I have collected together a timeline of the Epona evidence (including datable statuary, inscriptions, and literary references) at http://epona.net/timeline.html.