Epona

Uncommon card · No. 177280

In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was the goddess of horses and ponies. She was also a fertility and mother goddess, and was frequently depicted in art and sculptures either mounted on a horse, etc., (usually in sidesaddle position) or sitting on a throne with foals, or standing beside a foal. She is typically depicted holding a patera, cornucopia, fruit, bread, (wheat, grain); or accompanied by a foal or foals. She may have had a death goddess's aspect, and it is speculated that She (and her horses) might have been regarded as escorting souls to the world of the afterlife. Various scholars also point to the parallel between Epona and the Welsh legendary figure Rhiannon (also closely associated with horses), and in the first branch of the Mabinogion (Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed), Rhiannon rides up to the tower to meet the title hero Pwyll who is not only lord of Dyfed, but the "Head of Annwn (the Ohterworld/Underworld)". Epona's worship as the patroness of cavalry was widespread in the Roman Empire...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Bianconi, Giovanni Lodovico (1717-1781), Public domain