thumb|16th-century engraving of Pales, by [[Cornelis Cort]]
In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, Pales can be either singular or plural in Latin, and refers at least once to a pair of deities. Pales may have been a loose Roman equivalent of the Greek god Pan, also a deity of shepherds and flocks.
Marcus Atilius Regulus built a temple to Pales in Rome following his victory over the Salentini in 267 BC. It is generally thought to have been located on the Palatine Hill, but, being a victory monument, it may have been located on the route of the triumphal procession, either on the Campus Martius or the Aventine Hill. According to the Fasti Antiates Maiores, there was a festival for "the two Pales" (Palibus duobus) on July 7, probably to mark the dedication of this temple.
The gender of Pales is contradictory. Marcus Terentius Varro writes Pales as male, Virgil and Ovid write Pales as female,
Pales appears in pastoral plays of the 16th and 17th centuries, commonly depicted as an assistant to Pan.
References
Sources
- Richardson, L. (1992). A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. (p. 282)
- Scullard, H.H. (1981). Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London: Thames and Hudson. (p. 104–105)