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The Sator Square (or Rotas-Sator Square or Templar Magic Square) is a two-dimensional
acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...
class of
word square A word square is a type of acrostic. It consists of a set of words written out in a square grid, such that the same words can be read both horizontally and vertically. The number of words, which is equal to the number of letters in each word, is k ...
containing a five-word
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...
. The earliest squares were found at Roman-era sites, all in ROTAS-form (where the top line is "ROTAS", not "SATOR"), with the earliest discovery at
Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
(and also likely pre-AD 62). The earliest square with Christian-associated imagery dates from the sixth century. By the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, Sator squares had been found across
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, and
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
. In 2022, the ''
Encyclopedia Britannica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
'' called it "the most familiar lettered square in the Western world". A significant volume of academic research has been published on the square, but after more than a century, there is no consensus on its origin and meaning. The discovery of the "Paternoster theory" in 1926 led to a brief consensus among academics that the square was created by early Christians, but the subsequent discoveries at Pompeii led many academics to believe that the square was more likely created as a Roman word puzzle (per the Roma-Amor puzzle), which was later adopted by Christians. This origin theory, however, fails to explain how a Roman word puzzle then became such a powerful religious and magical medieval symbol. It has instead been argued that the square was created in its ROTAS-form as a Jewish symbol, embedded with cryptic religious symbolism, which was later adopted in its SATOR-form by Christians. There are many other less-supported academic origin theories, such as a
Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...
or
Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed i ...
puzzle, a
Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
or Orphic or Italian pagan
amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word , which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a perso ...
, a cryptic Mithraic or Semitic numerology charm, or that it was simply a device for working out wind directions. The square has long associations with magical powers throughout its history (and even up to the 19th century in North and South America), including a perceived ability to extinguish fires, particularly in Germany. The square appears in early and late medieval medical textbooks such as the Trotula, and was employed as a medieval cure for many ailments, particularly for dog bites and
rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...
, as well as for insanity, and relief during childbirth. It has featured in a diverse range of contemporary artworks including fiction books, paintings, musical scores, and films, and most notably in
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's 2020 film '' Tenet''. In 2020, ''
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'' called it "one of the closest things the classical world had to a
meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...
".


Description and naming

The Sator square is arranged as a 5 × 5 grid consisting of five 5-letter words, thus totaling 25 characters. It uses 8 different Latin letters: 5 consonants (S, T, R, P, N) and 3 vowels (A, E, O). In some versions, the vertical and horizontal lines of the grid are also drawn, but in many cases, there are no such lines. The square is described as a two-dimensional
palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...
, or
word square A word square is a type of acrostic. It consists of a set of words written out in a square grid, such that the same words can be read both horizontally and vertically. The number of words, which is equal to the number of letters in each word, is k ...
, which is a particular class of a double acrostic. The square comes in two forms: ROTAS (left, below), and SATOR (right, below): The earliest Roman-era versions of the square have the word ROTAS as the top line (called a ROTAS-form square, left above), but the inverted version with SATOR in the top line became more dominant from early medieval times (called a SATOR-form square, right above). Some academics call it a Rotas-Sator Square, and some of them refer to the object as a
rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...
, or a
magic square In mathematics, especially History of mathematics, historical and recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diago ...
. Since medieval times, it has also been known as a Templar Magic Square.


Discovery and dating

The existence of the square was long recognized from early medieval times, and various examples have been found in Europe,
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
,
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
(in mainly Coptic settlements), and the Americas. Medieval examples of the square in SATOR-form abound, including the earliest French example in a
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
from AD 822 at the monastery of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...
. Many medieval European churches and castles have Sator square inscriptions. The first recognized serious academic study of the square was the 1881 publication of historical survey in ', titled "Sator-Arepo-Formel", and a considerable body of academic research has been subsequently published on the meaning of the square. Up until the 1930s, a Coptic papyrus with the square in the ROTAS-form dating from the fourth or fifth century AD was considered the earliest version. In 1889, British
ancient historian Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...
Francis Haverfield identified the 1868 discovery of a Sator square found in ROTAS-form scratched on a plaster wall in the Roman settlement of Corinium at
Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
to be of Roman origin; however, his assertion was discounted at the time by most academics who considered the square to be an "early medieval charm". Haverfield was ultimately proved right by the 1931-32 excavations at
Dura-Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian Empire, Parthian, and Ancient Rome, Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Al-Salihiyah, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, S ...
in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
that uncovered three separate Sator square inscriptions, all in ROTAS-form, on the interior walls of a Roman military office (and a fourth a year later) that were dated from circa AD 200. Five years later in 1936, Italian archaeologist discovered a Sator square, also in ROTAS-form, inscribed on a column in the (the gymnasium) near the Amphitheatre of Pompeii ('' CIL IV 8623''). This discovery led Della Corte to reexamine a fragment of a square, again also in ROTAS-form, that he had made in 1925 at the house of Publius Paquius Proculus, also at Pompeii ('' CIL IV 8123''). The square at the house of Publius Paquius Proculus was dated between AD 50 and AD 79 (based on the decorative style of the interior), and the palestra square find was dated pre-AD 62 (and therefore the earthquake of AD 62), making it the oldest known Sator square discovery to date.


Translation


Individual words

The words are in Latin, and the following translations are known by scholars: :;: (nominative noun; from , "to sow") sower, planter, founder, progenitor ( usually divine); originator; literally 'seeder'; :; : unknown word, perhaps a proper name, either invented to complete the palindrome or of a non-Latin origin (see § Arepo interpretations); :; : (verb; from , 'to hold') he/she/it holds, keeps, comprehends, possesses, masters, preserves, sustains; :; : (ablative
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
] singular noun) service, pains, labor; care, effort, attention; :; : (, accusative plural of ) wheels.


Sentence construction

The most direct sentence translation is: "The sower (or, farmer) Arepo holds the wheels with care (or, with care the wheels)". Similar translations include: "The farmer Arepo works his wheels", or "Arepo the sower (sator) guides (tenet) the wheel (rotas) with skill (opera)". Some academics, such as French historian Jules Quicherat, believe the square should be read in a
boustrophedon Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...
style (i.e. in alternating directions). The boustrophedon style, which in Greek means "as the ox plows", emphasizes the agricultural aspect of the text of the square. Such a reading when applied to the SATOR-form square, and repeating the central word TENET, gives SATOR OPERA TENET – TENET OPERA SATOR, which has been very loosely interpreted as: "as ye sow, so shall ye reap", while some believe the square should be read as just three words – SATOR OPERA TENET, which they loosely translate as: "The Creator (the author of all things) maintains his works"; both of which could imply Graeco-Roman
Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed i ...
and/or
Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...
origins. British academic Duncan Fishwick observes that the translation from the boustrophedon approach fails when applied to a ROTAS-form square; however, Belgian scholar Paul Grosjean reversed the boustrophedon rule on the ROTAS-form (i.e. starting on the right-hand side instead of the left) to get SAT ORARE POTEN, which loosely translates into the Jewish call to prayer, "are you able to pray enough?".


Arepo interpretations

The word AREPO is a
hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an Fixed expression, expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written re ...
, appearing nowhere else in attested Latin literature. Some academics believe it is likely a proper name, or possibly a
theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
, that was adapted from a non-Latin word or was invented specifically for the Sator square. French historian
Jerome Carcopino Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible in ...
believed that it came from the
Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
word for a 'plough'; however, this has been discounted by other academics. American ancient legal historian
David Daube David Daube (8 February 1909, in Freiburg, Germany – 24 February 1999, in Berkeley, California) was the twentieth century's preeminent scholar of ancient law. He combined a familiarity with many legal systems, particularly Roman law and biblic ...
believed that AREPO represented a
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
or
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
rendition of the ancient Greek for
alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...
() and
omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
(), bespeaking the " Alpha-Omega" concept (cf. Isiah 44.6, and Revelation 1:8) from early Judeo-Christianity. J. Gwyn Griffiths contended that the term AREPO came, via
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
, from the attested Egyptian name "Hr-Hp" ('' ḥr ḥp''), which he took to mean "the face of Apis". In 1983, Serbian-American scholar
Miroslav Marcovich Miroslav Marcovich (March 18, 1919 – June 14, 2001) was a Serbian-American philologist and university professor. Early life Marcovich was born in Belgrade, Serbia. He studied at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy graduating ...
proposed the term AREPO as a Latinized abbreviation of
Harpocrates Harpocrates (, Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokratēs'') is the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in History of Alexandria#Ptolemaic era ...
(or "
Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...
-the-child"), god of the rising sun, also called , which Marcovich suggests corresponds to SATOR AREPO. This would translate the square as: "The sower Horus/Harpocrates keeps in check toils and tortures". Duncan Fishwick, among other academics, believed that AREPO was simply a residual word that was required to complete what is a complex and sophisticated palindrome (which Fishwick believed was embedded with hidden Jewish symbolism, per the "Jewish Symbol" origin theory below), and to expect more from the word was unreasonable from its likely Jewish creators.


Further anagrams

Attempts have been made to discover "hidden meanings" by the anagrammatic method of rearranging the letters of which the square is composed. * In 1883, German historian
Gustav Fritsch Gustav Theodor Fritsch (5 March 1838 – 12 June 1927) was a German anatomist, anthropologist, traveller and physiologist from Cottbus. Fritsch studied natural science and medicine in Berlin, Breslau and Heidelberg. In 1874 he became an asso ...
reformed the letters to discover an invocation to Satan: *:SATAN, ORO TE, PRO ARTE A TE SPERO *:SATAN, TER ORO TE, OPERA PRAESTO *:SATAN, TER ORO TE, REPARATO OPES * French historian Guillaume de Jerphanion catalogued examples that were known formulas for an
exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...
such as: *:RETRO SATANA, TOTO OPERE ASPER, and the prayers *:ORO TE PATER, ORO TE PATER, SANAS *:O PATER, ORES PRO AETATE NOSTRA *:ORA, OPERARE, OSTENTA TE PASTOR * In 1887, Polish
ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
Oskar Kolberg amended the strict anagrammatic approach by using abbreviations and thus deduced from the 25 letters of the Sator Square the 36 letters of the monastic rule: SAT ORARE POTEN (TER) ET OPERA(RE) R(ATI)O T(U)A S(IT), which he considered an ancient rule of the Benedictines; French historian Gaston Letonnelier made a similar approach in 1952 to get the Christian prayer: SAT ORARE POTEN(TIA) ET OPER(A) A ROTA S(ERVANT), which translates as: "Prayer is our strength and will save us from the wheel (of fate?)". * In 1935, German art historian believed he discovered the relief the
Rose of Sharon Rose of Sharon (in Hebrew: חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן) is a Bible, biblical expression, though the identity of the plant referred to is unclear and is disputed among biblical scholars. It has become a common name for several speci ...
gave to
Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
for the sin of his denial of Christ, with the anagram PETRO ET REO PATET ROSA SARONA, which translates as "For Peter even guilty the rose of Sharon is open"; academics refuted his interpretation. * In 2003, American historian Rose Mary Sheldon listed some of the many diverse sentences that can be produced from anagrams of the square including her favorite: APATOR NERO EST, which would translate as saying that the Roman emperor
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
was the result of a virgin birth.


Origin and meaning

The origin and meaning of the square has eluded a definitive academic consensus even after more than a century of study. In 1938, British classical historian Donald Atkinson said the square occupied the "mysterious region where religion, superstition, and magic meet, where words, numbers, and letters are believed, if properly combined, to exert power over the processes of nature ...". Even by 2003, American academic Rose Mary Sheldon called it "one of the oldest unsolved word puzzles in the world". In 2018, American ancient classical historian Megan O'Donald still noted that "most interpretations of the ROTAS square have failed to gain consensus due to failings", and, in particular, reconciling the archeological evidence with the square's later adoption as a religious and magical object.


Christian symbol


Adoption by Christians

Irrespective of the theory of its origin, the evidence that the Sator square, particularly in its SATOR-form, became adopted into Christian imagery is not disputed by academics. Academics note the repeated association of Christ with the "sower" (or SATOR), and the words of the Sator square have been discovered in Christian settings even in very early medieval times, including: * Jesuit historian Jean Daniélou claimed that the third century Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 200) knew of the square and had written of "Him who joined the beginning with the end, and is the Lord of both, and has shown forth the plough at the end". Some academics link Irenaeus with creating the association of the five words in the square to the five wounds of Christ. * The
Berlin State Museum The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters; several research institutes; libraries; and supporting facilities. They are overseen by the ...
houses a sixth-century bronze amulet from Asia Minor that has two fish turned toward one another on one side, and a Sator square in Greek characters in a checkerboard pattern on the other side. Written above the square is the word "ICHTHUS", which directly translates as a term for Christ; it is the earliest known Christian annotated Sator Square. * An illustration in an early Byzantine bible gives the baptismal names of the three
Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...
as being: ATOR, SATOR, and PERATORAS. * In
Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...
, in the time of
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, a ...
(913–959), the shepherds of the
Nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...
are named: SATOR, AREPON, and TENETON. The Sator square appears in diverse Christian communities, such as in
Abyssinia Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, ...
where in the '' Ethiopian Book of the Dead'', the individual nails in Christ's cross were called: Sador, Alador, Danet, Adera, Rodas. These are likely derived from even earlier Coptic Christian works that also ascribe the wounds of Christ and the nails of the cross with names that resemble the five words from the square. While there is little doubt among academics that Christians adopted the square, it was not clear that they had originated the symbol.


Paternoster theory

During 1924 to 1926, three people separately discovered, or rediscovered, that the square could be used to write the name of the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...
, the "Paternoster", twice and intersecting in a cross-form (see image opposite). The remaining residual letters (two ''A''s and two ''O''s) could be placed in the four quadrants of the cross and would represent the Alpha and Omega that are established in
Christian symbolism Christian symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork or events, by Christianity. It invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. The symbolism of the early Church was characterized by be ...
. The positioning of the ''A''s and ''O''s was further supported by the fact that the position of the ''T''s in the Sator square formed the points of a cross – there are obscure references in the ''
Epistle of Barnabas The Epistle of Barnabas () is an early Christian Greek epistle written between AD 70 and AD 135. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus, where it appears at the end of the New Testament, following the Book of Revelati ...
'' to T being a symbol of the cross – and that the ''A''s and ''O''s also lay in the four quadrants of this cross. At the time of this discovery, the earliest known Sator square was from the fourth century, further supporting the dating of the Christian symbolism inherent in the Paternoster theory. Academics considered the Christian origins of the square to be largely resolved. With the subsequent discovery of Sator squares at Pompeii, dating pre-79 AD, the Paternoster theory began to lose support, even among notable supporters such as French historian Guillaume de Jerphanion. Jerphanion noted: that (1) it was improbable that many Christians were present at Pompeii, that (2) first-century Christians would have written the square in Greek and not Latin, that (3) the Christian concepts of Alpha and Omega only appear after the first century, that (4) the symbol of the cross only appears from about AD 130–131, and that (5) cryptic Christian symbols only appeared during the persecutions of the third century.
Jérôme Carcopino Jérôme Carcopino (27 June 1881 – 17 March 1970) was a French historian, author, and Nazi collaborator. He was the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française, in 1955. Biography Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-A ...
claimed the Pompeii squares were added at a later date by looters. The lack of any disturbance to the volcanic deposits at the palestra, however, meant that this was unlikely, and the Paternoster theory as a proof of Christian origination lost much of its academic support. Regardless of its Christian origins, many academics considered the Paternoster discovery as being a random occurrence to be mathematically impossible. Several examined this mathematical probability including German historian and British historian Hugh Last, but without reaching a conclusion. A 1987 computer analysis by William Baines derived a number of "pseudo-Christian formulae" from the square but Baines concluded it proved nothing.


Roman word puzzle

There is considerable contemporary academic support for the theory that the square originated as a Roman-era word puzzle. Italian historian Arsenio Frugoni found it written in the margin of the ''Carme delle scolte modenesi'' beside the Roma-Amor palindrome, and Italian classicist Margherita Guarducci noted it was similar to the ROMA OLIM MILO AMOR two-dimensional acrostic word puzzle that was also found at Pompeii (see
Wiktionary Wiktionary (, ; , ; rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a number o ...
for details on the Pompeiian graffito), and at Ostia and Bolonia. Similarly, another ROTAS-form square scratched into a Roman-era wall in the basement of the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The largest Marian church in Rome, it is ...
, was found alongside the Roma-Amor, and the Roma-Summus-Amor, palindromes. Duncan Fishwick noted the "composition of palindromes was, in fact, a pastime of Roman landed gentry". American classical epigraphist Rebecca Benefiel, noted that by 2012, Pompeii had yielded more than 13,000 separate inscriptions and that the house of Publius Paquius Proculus (where a square was found) had more than 70 pieces of graffiti alone. A 1969 computer study by Charles Douglas Gunn started with a Roma-Amor square and found 2,264 better versions, of which he considered the Sator square to be the best. The square's origin as a word puzzle solved the problem of AREPO (a word that appears nowhere else in classical writing), as being a necessary component to complete the palindrome. Fishwick still considered this interpretation as unproven and clarified that the apparent discovery of the Roma-Amor palindrome written beside the 1954 discovery of a square on a tile at Aquincum, was incorrectly translated (if anything it supported the square as a charm). Fishwick, and others, consider the key failing of the Roman puzzle theory of origin is the lack of any explanation as to why the square would later become so strongly associated with Christianity, and with being a medieval charm. Some argue that this can be bridged if considered as a
Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...
-
Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed i ...
puzzle creation. In 2018, Megan O'Donnell argued that the square is less of a pure word puzzle but more a piece of Latin Roman graffito that should be read ''figuratively'' as a wheel (i.e. the ROTAS), and that the textual-visual interplay had parallels with other forms of graffito found in Pompeii, some of which later became adopted as charms.


Jewish symbol

Some prominent academics, including British-Canadian ancient Roman scholar Duncan Fishwick, American ancient legal historian
David Daube David Daube (8 February 1909, in Freiburg, Germany – 24 February 1999, in Berkeley, California) was the twentieth century's preeminent scholar of ancient law. He combined a familiarity with many legal systems, particularly Roman law and biblic ...
, and British ancient historian Mary Beard, consider the square as being likely of Jewish origin. Fishwick notes that the failings of the Paternoster theory (above) are resolved when looked at from a Jewish perspective. Large numbers of Latin-speaking Jews had been settled in Pompeii, and their affinity for cryptic and mystical word symbols was well known. The Alpha and Omega concept appears much earlier in Judaism (Ex. 3.14; Is. 41.4, and 44.6), and the letters "
aleph Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician ''ʾālep'' 𐤀, Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew ''ʾālef'' , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic ''ʾālap'' � ...
" and "
tau Tau (; uppercase Τ, lowercase τ or \boldsymbol\tau; ) is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless alveolar plosive, voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300 ...
" are used in the
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
as symbols of totality. The ''T''s of TENET may be explained not as Christian crosses, but as a Latin form of the Jewish "tau" salvation symbol (from Ezekiel), and its archaic form (+ or X) appears regularly on
ossuaries An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...
of both
Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
and early Roman times. Fishwick highlights the central position of the letter ''N'', as Jews attached significance to the utterance of the "Name" (or nomen). In addition, Fishwick believes a Jewish origin provides a satisfactory explanation for the Paternoster cross (or X) as the configuration is an archaic Jewish "tau" (+ or X). Fishwick draws attention to some liturgical prayers in Judaism, where several prayers refer to "Our Father". None of these liturgical prayers, however, can be dated to before
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. Fishwick concludes that the translations of the words ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR are irrelevant, except to the extent that they make some sense and thereby hide a Jewish cryptic charm, and to require them to mean more is "to expect the impossible". The motivation for the creation square might have been the Jewish
pogroms A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century attacks on Jews i ...
of AD 19 or AD 49; however, it fell into disuse only to be revived later by Christians facing their own persecution, and who appreciated its hidden Paternoster and Alpha and Omega symbolism, but who focused on the SATOR-form (which gave an emphasis on the "sower", which was associated with Christ). Research in 2006 by French classical scholar Nicolas Vinel drew on recent discoveries on the mathematics of ancient magic squares to propose that the square was a "Jewish cryptogram using Pythagorean arithmetic". Vinel decoded several Jewish concepts in the square, including the reason for AREPO, and was able to explain the word SAUTRAN that appears beside the square that was discovered on the palestra column in Pompeii. Vinel addressed a criticism of the Jewish origin theory – why would the Jews have then abandoned the symbol? – by noting the Greek texts that they also abandoned (e.g. the
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
) in favor of Hebrew versions.


Other theories

The amount of academic research published on the Rotas-Sator square is regarded as being considerable (and even described by one source as "immense"); American academic Rose Mary Sheldon attempted to catalog and review the most prominent works in a 2003 paper published in ''
Cryptologia ''Cryptologia'' is a journal in cryptography published six times per year since January 1977. Its remit is all aspects of cryptography, with a special emphasis on historical aspects of the subject. The founding editors were Brian J. Winkel, Davi ...
''. Among the more diverse but less supported theories Sheldon recorded were: * Several German academics have written on the links of the square to
Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek co ...
and
Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...
, including philologist , historian , and Heinz Hoffman, among others. Schneider believed the square was an important link between
Etruscan religion Etruscan religion comprises a set of stories, beliefs, and religious practices of the Etruscan civilization, heavily influenced by the mythology of ancient Greece, and sharing similarities with concurrent Roman mythology and Religion in ancie ...
and Stoic academic philosophy. Hommel believed that in the Stoic tradition, the Ephesian word AREPO would be discarded, and the square would be read in the boustrophedon style as SATOR OPERA TENET, TENET OPERA SATOR, translating as "The Creator preserves his works". German scholar writing the Sator square's entry in ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'' found this theory persuasive, but
Miroslav Marcovich Miroslav Marcovich (March 18, 1919 – June 14, 2001) was a Serbian-American philologist and university professor. Early life Marcovich was born in Belgrade, Serbia. He studied at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy graduating ...
refuted the translation. * Several academics link the square to
Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
origins, such as Jean Doignon, Gustav Maresch, Adolfo Omodeo, and . English egyptogolist J. Gwyn Griffiths explains AREPO as a personal name derived from the Egyptian name "Hr-Hp", and sources the square to an Alexandrine origin where a gnostic tradition employed acrostics. * Some academics link the square to Orphic cults, including Serbian historian
Milan Budimir Milan Budimir ( sr-cyr, Милан Будимир; 2 November 1891 – 17 October 1975) was a distinguished Serbian classical scholar, professor, philosopher and Chair of the Department of Classical Philology. Life Budimir was born in Mrkonjić ...
who linked the Greek form of AREPO to the name Orpheus. * Italian academic Adolfo Omodeo linked the square to Mithraic origins as the Roman-era discoveries were in military locations with whom it was popular, while academic historian Walter O. Moeller attempted to derive a Mithraic relationship using perceived mathematical patterns in the square, but his arguments were not considered convincing by other academics. * Norwegian
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
Samson Eitrem took the last half of the square starting at ''N'' to get: "net opera rotans", which translates as "She spins her works", interpreting it to be a feminine being (i.e.
Hecate Hecate ( ; ) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. She is variously associat ...
), a demon, or even the square itself rotating on its TENET spokes, thus giving a peasant Italian pagan origin with the square as a wind indicator. * Some academics such as Swiss archeologist have proposed that it is a numerical number square, which would also imply a Semitic origin. A significant issue is that the square is in Latin, and Romans did not have the ciphered number system of the Greeks or the Semites. However, if the letters are
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
to Greek, and then assigned ciphered numbers, the word TENET can be rendered as 666, the
number of the beast The number of the beast (, ) is associated with the The Beast (Revelation), Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of ...
. Walter O. Moeller analyzed the resultant numerical combinations to assert that the square was made by Mithraic numerologists. * In 1925, Zatzman interpreted the square as a Hebraic or Aramaic apotropaic formula against the devil, and translated the square to read: "Satan Adama Tabat Amada Natas". * In 1958, French historian Paul-Louis Couchoud proposed a novel interpretation as the square being a device for working out wind directions.


Magical and medical associations

In 2003, Rose Mary Sheldon noted: "Long after the fall of Rome, and long after the general public had forgotten about classical word games, the square survived among people who might not even read Latin. They continued to use it as a charm against illness, evil and bad luck. By the end of the Middle Ages, the "prophylactic magic" of the square was firmly established in the superstition of Italy, Serbia, Germany, and Iceland, and eventually even crossed to North America". The square appears in versions of several popular magical manuscripts from the early and late Middle Ages magical text such as the '' Tabula Smaragdina'' and the '' Clavicula Salomonis''. In Germany in the Middle Ages, the square was inscribed on disks that were then thrown into fires to extinguish them. An edict in 1743 by Duke Ernest Auguste of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach required all settlements to make Sator square disks to combat fires. By the fifteenth century the square was being used as a touchstone against fire at the Château de Chinon and in France. The square appears as a remedy during labour in the twelfth-century Latin medical text, the Trotula, and was widely cited as a cure for dog bites and
rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...
in medieval Europe; in both cases, the remedy/cure is administered by eating bread inscribed with the words of the square. By the sixteenth century, the use of the square to cure insanity and fever was being documented in books such as ''De Varia Quercus Historia'' (1555) by Jean du Choul, and ''De Rerum Varietate'' (1557) by
Gerolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, as ...
. Jean du Choul describes a case where a person from
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
recovered from insanity after eating three crusts of bread inscribed with the square. After the meal, the person then recited five paternosters for the five wounds of Christ, linking to the Christian imagery believed encoded into the square. Scholars have found medieval Sator-based charms, remedies, and cures, for a diverse range of applications from childbirth, to toothaches, to love potions, to ways of warding off evil spells, and even to determine whether someone was a witch. Richard Cavendish notes a medieval manuscript in the Bodleian says: "Write these ive satorwords on in parchment with the blood of a Culver igeonand bear it in thy left hand and ask what thou wilt and thou shalt have it. fiat." Other examples include Bosnia, where the square was used as a remedy for
aquaphobia Aquaphobia () is an irrational fear of water. Aquaphobia is considered a specific phobia of natural environment type in the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders''. A specific phobia is an intense fear of something that poses ...
, and in Iceland, it was etched into the fingernails to cure
jaundice Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving ...
. There are examples from the nineteenth century in South America, where the Sator square was used as a cure for dog bites and snake-bites in Brazil, and in enclaves of German settlers (or mountain whites) in the
Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...
who used the square to prevent fire, stop fits, and prevent miscarriages. The Sator square features in eighteenth-century books on Pow-wow folk medicine of the
Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...
, such as '' The Long Lost Friend'' (see image).


Notable examples


Roman

* The oldest Sator square was found in November 1936, in ROTAS-form, etched into column number LXI at the near the amphitheatre of Pompeii (''CIL IV 8623''). Graffiti associated with the particular columns pre-dates the AD 62 Pompeii earthquake, making it the oldest known square. It also has additional graffiti just below it, with the words SAUTRAN and VALE (''CIL IV 8622a-b''). * Another Sator square was also found in October 1925, in ROTAS-form, etched onto the wall in a bathroom of the house of Publius Paquius Proculus (Reg I, Ins 7, 1), also at Pompeii (''CIL IV 8123''). The style of the house, which is associated with
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
's reign, dated the square to between AD 50 and AD 79 (the destruction of the city). * A Sator square was found in 1954, in ROTAS-form, etched onto a roof tile of the second-century Roman Imperial governor's house for
Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Inferior, lit. Lower Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sirmium. It was one of the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia ...
at
Aquincum Aquincum (, ) was an ancient city, situated on the northeastern borders of the province of Pannonia within the Roman Empire. The ruins of the city can be found in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. It is believed that Marcus Aurelius wrote ...
, near
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary. There has been debate over whether a second partial inscription found beside the square is part of the Roma-Amor palindrome (thus affirming the Roman puzzle origin theory), but it seems unlikely. * A Sator square was found in 1978, in ROTAS-form, etched on a fragment of Roman pottery at a Roman site at
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
that was dated circa. AD 185. * Four Sator squares were found in 1931–32, all in ROTAS-form, etched on the walls of military buildings, at
Dura-Europos Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian Empire, Parthian, and Ancient Rome, Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Al-Salihiyah, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, S ...
in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, dated circa AD 200. * A Sator square was found in 1868, in ROTAS-form, scratched onto a plaster wall in the Roman Britain settlement of Corinium Dobunnorum at
Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
. * A Sator square was found in 1971, in ROTAS-form, etched onto an unfired brick at the Roman city of
Conímbriga Conímbriga is one of the largest Roman settlements excavated in Portugal, and was classified as a National Monument in 1910. Located in the civil parish of Condeixa-a-Velha e Condeixa-a-Nova, in the municipality of Condeixa-a-Nova, it is situa ...
in Portugal that was dated from the second century. * A Sator square was found in 1966–71, in ROTAS-form, scratched into a Roman-era wall during excavations of the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The largest Marian church in Rome, it is ...
in Rome (along with the Roma-Amor, and the Rome Summus Amor palindromes).


Early medieval

* The earliest Sator square post-Roman times was the 1899 discovery of a ROTAS-form square inscribed on a Coptic papyrus by German historians Adolph Erman and Fritz Krebs in the Egyptian papyrus collections of the
Berlin State Museums The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters; several research institutes; libraries; and supporting facilities. They are overseen by the ...
(then the Koniglischen Museen); it has no other explicit Christian imagery. * The earliest Sator square with explicit additional Christian imagery is a sixth-century bronze amulet from Asia Minor that has two fish turned toward one another on one side, and a Sator square in Greek characters in a checkerboard pattern on the other side. Written above the square is the word "ICHTHUS", which directly translates as a term for Christ. It is also in the Berlin State Museums. * One of the earliest examples of a Sator square in a Christian church is the SATOR-form marble square on the facade of the circa AD 752 Benedictine Abbey of St Peter ad Oratorium, near Capestrano, in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. * The earliest example from France is a SATOR-form square found in a
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
from AD 822 at the monastery of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...
. There are ninth- to tenth-century examples in Codex 384 from
Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...
, and a square was found written into the margin of a work titled ''Versus de cavenda Venere et vino found'', which is part of Codex 1.4 of the Capitolare di Modena. * One of the earliest examples of the square being applied to medical beliefs is from the twelfth-century Latin medical textbooks, the Trotula, where the translated text advises: " 8Or let these names be written on cheese and butter: + sa. e. op. ab. z. po. c. zy. e pe. pa. pu c. ac. sator arepo tenet os pera rotas and let them be given to eat". In a similar vein, there is a thirteenth-century parchment from
Aurillac Aurillac (; ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Geography Aurillac is at above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin. The city is b ...
that offers a Sator square chant for women in childbirth.


Later medieval

* Twelfth-century French examples are found on the wall of the Eglise Saint Laurent at , and in the keep of
Château de Loches The Château de Loches (also called Le Logis Royal de Loches) is a castle located in the ''département in France, département'' of Indre-et-Loire in the Loire Valley in France; it was constructed in the 9th century. Built some away from t ...
. * A Sator square in SATOR-form was found on a block set into the doorway facade of a fortified wall in the largely abandoned medieval fortress town of Oppède-le-Vieux, in France's
Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal dialect, Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mounta ...
; the old town itself dates from the twelfth or thirteenth-century and was abandoned by the seventeenth-century. * Many medieval Italian towns and churches have squares. The twelfth-century church of San Giovanni Decolatto in Pieve Terzagni in
Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...
has fragments of a floor mosaic that included a square.
Valvisciolo Abbey Valvisciolo Abbey is a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery in the province of Latina, central Italy, near the towns of Sermoneta and Norma, Lazio, Ninfa. It is an example of rigorous romanesque architecture, Romanesque-Cistercian architecture, cons ...
has letters forming five concentric rings, each one divided into five sectors. One appears on the exterior wall of the
Duomo ''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. The Duomo of Monza, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definitio ...
in
Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
. Inside the church of
Acquaviva Collecroce Acquaviva Collecroce (also called ''Živavoda Kruč'' or, usually, just ''Kruč'') is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise region of southern Italy, between the Biferno and Trigno rivers. Like the smaller ...
is a stone with the square in a ROTAS-form. Others include the church of the Pieve of San Giovanni, the Collegiate church of Saint Ursus, the Cathedral of Ascoli Satriano, and the Church of San Lorenzo in Paggese in
Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...
. * The square is also found in diverse locations all over later medieval France, including fifteenth-century examples at the Château de Chinon, the , as well as in the courthouse in Valbonnais. * There is a Sator square in SATOR-form in the medieval Rivington Church in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, England. * The phrase appears on the
rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...
stone Nä Fv1979;234 from
Närke Närke () is a Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Svealand in south central Sweden. It is bordered by Västmanland to the north, Södermanland to the east, Östergötland to the southeast, Västergötland to the sou ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, dated to the fourteenth century. It reads "sator arepo tenet" (untranscribed: "sator ¶ ar(æ)po ¶ tænæt). It also occurs in two inscriptions from
Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
(G 145 M and G 149 M), which contain the whole palindrome.


Other

* Lady Jane Francesa Wilde's anthology of Irish folklore, ''Ancient Legends Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland'' (1888), includes the tale of a young girl who is enchanted by a poet using the spell of a Sator square written on a piece of paper in blood. * The Sator square, with some letters changed, features in eighteenth-century books on Pow-wow folk medicine of the
Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...
, such as '' The Long Lost Friend'' (see image earlier).


In popular culture

The Sator square has inspired many works in the arts, including some classical and contemporary composers such as works by Austrian composer
Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
and Italian composer Fabio Mengozzi, writers such as Brazilian writer Osman Lins (whose novel ''Avalovara'' (1973) follows the structure of the square), and painters such as American artist
Dick Higgins Dick Higgins (15 March 1938 – 25 October 1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement (and community). Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was ...
with ''La Melancolia'' (1983), and American artist Gary Stephan with ''Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas'' (1982). British-American director
Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...
's 2020 film '' Tenet'' has a story structure that mimics the square's concept of interlinked multiple directions of meaning, and incorporates all five of the names from the Sator square: *The main antagonist is named Sator. *The artist who created the forged Goya drawings was named "Arepo". *''Tenet'' is the title of the film as well as the secret organization that works to save the world. *The opening scene is set at an
opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...
. * Sator owns a construction company called "Rotas". American author Lawrence Watt-Evans notes that
Sir Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
named the main square in the fictional city of
Ankh-Morpork Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state that is the setting for many Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Overview Pratchett describes Ankh-Morpork as the biggest city in Discworld and its corrupt mercantile capital. In '' The Art of Discwo ...
in his ''
Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...
'' book series, "Sator Square", in a deliberate reference to the symbol. Watt-Evans notes that the Discworld series is full of other incidental references to unusual symbols and concepts. The song ''Tenet'' by the Nordic neo-folk band Heilung is based on the Sator square. All its individual musical parts, melodies and instruments (and even at times the lyrics) play the same both forward and backwards.


See also

*
Abracadabra ''Abracadabra'' is a magic word, historically used as an Apotropaic magic, apotropaic incantation on amulets and common today in stage magic. The actual origin is unknown, but one of the first appearances of the word was in a second-century work ...
, a second-century Roman
magic word Magic words are phrases used in fantasy fiction or by Magic (illusion), stage magicians. Frequently such words are presented as being part of a Divine language, divine, Adamic language, adamic, or other Twilight language, secret or Language of t ...
*
Abraxas Abraxas (, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the '' Holy ...
, a mystical word in
Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...
*'' Nipson anomemata me monan opsin,'' a fourth-century Byzantine palindrome * Paser Crossword Stela *'' The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage'', a medieval book that contains word squares


Notes


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

*
An Early Christian Cryptogram?
' Duncan Fishwick, University of St. Michael's College (1959) *
The "Magic Square" in Conimbriga (Portugal)
' Robert Étienne,
University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...
(1978)
Square found in 1936 in the Palestra Grande on column (II 7)
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