Pala (
Cuneiform: ''pa-la-a'')
[Maciej Popko: ''Völker und Sprachen Altanatoliens''. Wiesbaden 2008, p. 60-61.] was a
Bronze Age country in
Northern Anatolia
The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop.
It is bordered by the Marmara Region to the w ...
. 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.
Location
Pala is said to have been bordered by Tummana to the east,
Kalasma to the west and Kaissiya to Mount Asharpaya toward the south.
The country named *Bla leading to Blaene in
cuneiform script
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
was written as ''pa-la-a''.
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.
Bryce believed it was situated 600 km to the east of ancient
Troy.
History
In the
Old Hittite period Pala was mentioned as an administrative area under
Hittite jurisdiction in the
Hittite laws.
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,
though the area was still referred to as 'the land of Pala" as late as the reign of
Muršili II (1330–1295 BCE). It is likely that the Palaic peoples disappeared after the Kaskian invasion.
Mythology
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.
The following deities are known:
[Piotr Taracha: ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia''. Wiesbaden 2009, p. 58-59.]
References
{{Ancient kingdoms in Anatolia
Palaic peoples
States in Bronze Age Anatolia
Hittite Empire