page_title: Celts in Transylvania
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Celts in Transylvania / Society / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Köngen, Germany. About 200 AD The motif of the "Lady of the Animals" lives on this religious depiction. Flanked by two horses, Epona is shown sitting on a throne holding a fruit basket on her lap. The Celtic goddess was revered as the patroness for wagoners. She was also popular among the military. The images was mainly occurred in the provinces of Gaul and Germania. Kunst der Kelten, Historisches Museum Bern. Art of the Celts, Historic Museum of Bern.
context_page_description: The appearance of Celts in Transylvania can be traced to the later La Tène period.
  Excavation of the great La Tène necropolis at Apahida, Cluj County, by S. Kovacs at the turn of the 20th century revealed the first evidence of Celtic culture in Romania. The 3rd–2nd century BC site is remarkable for its cremation burials and chiefly wheel-made funeral vessels.
  A historical timeline of the Celts of Transylvania can be derived from archaeological finds at La Tène, but there are almost no ancient records that allow reconstruction of political events in the area. The Celts exercised politico-military rule over Transylvania between the 4th and 2nd century BC and brought with them a more advanced iron-working technology. They were also responsible for the spread of the potter's wheel into a much wider area than the one they occupied.
context_section_description: The Dacian priestly class may have influenced the druids of the Celts with the important Christian author Hippolytus of Rome (170–236 AD), claiming that the druids adopted the teachings of Pythagoras through the intermediacy of Zalmoxis.
  Roman Dacia's pantheon includes Celtic divinities brought to the province by both military and civilian elements. The most important Celtic cult attested in the new province is that of the horse-goddess Epona. Specific epithets in her honor as Augusta, Regina and Sancta are found on inscriptions from Alba Iulia, on the site of ancient settlement Apulon (Latin Apulum).
  The stag-horned Cernunnos, one of the "great gods" of the Celts, was also known in the area according to two testimonies, one of them calling him Iupiter Cernenus, a name found nowhere else in the Empire. However, Cernunnos also has funereal attributions, not only as a protector of tombs but also as a psychopompos god.
  References to Apollo Grannus and Sirona, divinities widespread in Gallia and on the Upper Danube as protectors of health are also recorded in Roman Dacia.
caption: Epona (the horse-goddess) as seen at the Historical Museum of Bern, the most important Celtic cult attested to in Roman Dacia, 2nd century AD
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