Pales was the Roman pastoral deity who protected shepherds and flocks and was honored during the Parilia.
The Parilia was celebrated on April 21, traditionally also the anniversary of Rome’s foundation. Shepherds purified their animals by burning sulphur and other materials, then leading the livestock through the cleansing smoke. Offerings included milk, cakes, and millet.
Pales is sometimes described as a goddess, but ancient evidence is inconsistent. Varro treated Pales as male, while Virgil and Ovid used feminine descriptions; some scholars therefore allow for two Pales deities or a deity whose gender was fluid. This does not change Pales’s standard identification as the pastoral protector.
Pales is sometimes confused with Pan, the Greek god of shepherds, because both had pastoral associations. They were not identical: Pales was a distinct Roman deity, while Pan was later used as a rough Greek comparison.