Iccona the Shining Mare-Goddess
Lusitanian · deity · Iron Age (Cabeço das Fráguas inscription) · Recorded classification
Name leads with the English phrase 'the Shining Mare-Goddess'; attested form Iccona Loiminna. Native theonym reconstructed as *Ekwonā ('she of the horse'), cognate with Epona; the epithet Loiminna ('shining', glossed by Blázquez) qualifies her. Attested in the single Cabeço das Fráguas inscription; the Epona parallel is the basis for her wider equine/fertility characterisation.
Domains
- horses equine
- fertility abundance
Powers
- receive the offering of a mare
Relations
- equated with: EponaReciprocal of gaulish_epona.equated-with — Iccona widely read as *Ekwona 'mare-goddess', etymological counterpart of Epona; contested — Prósper (2002) derives it from *eik- 'strike'. The equation rests wholly on this flagged reconstruction, not shared cult.Cabeço das Fráguas rock inscription (Lusitanian: ICCONA LOIM[I]NNA) (primary); A. Tovar, 'L'inscription du Cabeço das Fráguas et la langue lusitanienne', Études Celtiques 11 (1966-67) (secondary)
Sources
- Iccona, qualified as 'Loiminna' (the shining/luminous one), receives a mare in the Cabeço das Fráguas invocation and is interpreted by Prósper and Blázquez as the Lusitanian counterpart of the Gaulish horse-goddess Epona, both names descending from Proto-Indo-European/Celtic *ekwo- ('horse').: Cabeço das Fráguas inscription, Benespera (Guarda) (inscription); B. M. Prósper, Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la Península Ibérica (2002) (secondary)