| Native Name: | Pala |
| Conventional Long Name: | Pala |
| Common Name: | Pala |
| Era: | Bronze Age |
| Year Start: | Unknown |
| Year End: | at the latest 1178 BC |
| P1: | Hattians |
| S1: | Paphlagonia |
| Image Map Caption: | The location of Pala in Northern Bronze Age Anatolia |
| Capital: | Unknown |
| Religion: | Palaic religion |
| Today: | Turkey |
Pala (Cuneiform: pa-la-a)[1] was a Bronze Age country in Northern Anatolia. Little is known of Pala except its native Palaic language and its native religion. Their language shared common innovations with Luwian not present in the Hittite language suggesting a prior Luwian-Palaic linguistic complex.[2]
Pala is said to have been bordered by Tummana to the east, Kalasma to the west and Kaissiya to Mount Asharpaya toward the south.[3] The country named *Bla leading to Blaene in cuneiform script was written as pa-la-a.[1] The country of Pala may have been located along the Black Sea coast, either in the region known as Paphlagonia in classical antiquity or the much smaller territory of Blaene located within, though it has been alternately located near modern-day Sivas as well.[4] Bryce believed it was situated 600 km to the east of ancient Troy.[5]
In the Old Hittite period Pala was mentioned as an administrative area under Hittite jurisdiction in the Hittite laws.[1] At the end of the Old Hittite period, contact between the Hittites and Pala ceased because of the capture of the Black Sea region by the Kaskian people,[1] though the area was still referred to as 'the land of Pala" as late as the reign of Muršili II (1330–1295 BCE).[6] It is likely that the Palaic peoples disappeared after the Kaskian invasion.[7]
The Palaic mythology is known from cuneiform ritual texts from the temple of the Palaic storm god in the Hittite capital Ḫattuša where the cult of Palaic deities continued even when contacts between Hittites and Pala had disappeared.[1] The following deities are known:[1] [8]
| Name | Gender/Number | Notes | Alternative Names | Hittite or Luwian counterpart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| god | Palaic major god, storm god | Zaparwa, name of Hattian origin | Tarḫuna, Tarḫunt | ||
| Kataḫzipuri | goddess | wife of Zaparwa | Kataḫziwuri, name of Hattian origin | Kamrušepa | |
| Tiyaz | god | sun god | Tiyad | Sun god of Heaven, Tiwaz | |
| Gulzannikeš | goddesses | fate goddesses | Gulzikannikeš | Daraweš Gulšeš | |
| Ḫašamili | god | Ḫašammili, name of Hattian origin | |||
| goddess | |||||
| Kamama | god | Kammamma | |||
| Hearth | deity | hearth deity | |||
| Šaušḫalla | deity | Šaušḫilla | |||
| Ḫilanzipa | deity | Ḫilašši | |||
| Ḫašauwanza | deity | ||||
| Aššanuwant | deity | Aššiyat | |||
| Ilaliyantikeš | deities | Ilaliyant | |||
| Kuwanšeš | deities | ||||
| Uliliyantikeš | deities | Uliliyašši |