Sator Square

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The Sator Square is a word square containing a Latin palindrome featuring the words SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS written in a square so that they may be read top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, left-to-right, and right-to-left. The earliest known appearance of the square was found in the ruins of Herculaneum.

The square rearranges to form a Greek cross reading PATER NOSTER horizontally and vertically, leaving two of the letters A and O, taken as Alpha and Omega. Thus, the square is linked with Christianity and may have been a safe, hidden way for early Christians to signal their presence to each other in a city. A Sator Square uncovered in Manchester, England is said to be the earliest known evidence of Christianity in Britain.

Contents 1 Translation 2 Appearances 3 Christian Associations 4 Magical uses 4.1 Numerology 5 In popular culture 6 See also 7 References 7.1 Footnotes 8 External links

[edit] Translation

The usual translation is as follows:

Sator 

'Sower', 'planter'

Arepo 

Likely an invented proper name; its similarity with arrepo, from ad repo, 'I creep towards', is coincidental

Tenet 

'he holds'

Opera 

'works', '(cares)', 'efforts'

Rotas 

'wheels'

Two possible translations of the phrase are 'The sower Arepo holds the wheels with effort' and 'The sower Arepo leads with his hand (work) the plough (wheels).' C. W. Ceram read the square boustrophedon (in alternating directions), with tenet repeated. This produces Sator opera tenet; tenet opera sator, translated: 'The Great Sower holds in his hand all works; all works the Great Sower holds in his hand.' (Ceram 1958, p. 30)

The word arepo is enigmatic, appearing nowhere else in Latin literature. Most of those who have studied the Sator Square agree that it is a proper name, either an adaptation of a non-Latin word or a name invented specifically for this sentence. Jerome Carcopino thought that it came from a Celtic, specifically Gaulish, word for plough. David Daube argued that it represented a Hebrew or Aramaic rendition of the Greek Αλφα ω, or "Alpha-Omega" (cf. Revelation 1:8) by early Christians. J. Gwyn Griffiths contended that it came, via Alexandria, from the attested Egyptian name Ḥr-Ḥp, which he took to mean "the face of Apis". (For more on these arguments see Griffiths, 1971 passim.)

[edit] Appearances

The oldest known representation of the Sator Square was found in the ruins of Herculaneum. Others were found in excavations at Corinium (modern Cirencester) and Dura-Europos (in modern Syria). It should be noted that the Corinium example is actually a Rotas Square; its inscription reads ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR.

Other Sator Squares are on the wall of the Duomo of Siena and on a memorial,^[1] near the site where composer Anton Webern was shot in 1945.

An example of the Sator Square found in Manchester is considered by some authorities to be the earliest evidence of Christianity in Britain.^[2]

Other authorities believe the Sator Square was Mithraic in origin.^[3]

An example is found inserted in a wall of the old district of Oppede, in France's Luberon.

There is a Sator Square in the museum at Conimbriga (near Coimbra in Portugal), excavated on the site.

[edit] Christian Associations

It is possible to write a horizontal and a vertical 'Pater Noster' with the letters of the sator square, forming a Greek cross. The two As and two Os which remain are then taken as Alpha and Omega. Another claim is that the words are a list of the "mystical names" for the nails pulled from Christ's body ^[4]. The associations indicate the square may have been a safe, hidden way for early Christians to signal their presence to each other in a city without exposing themselves to persecution.

[edit] Magical uses

The Sator Square is a four-times palindrome, and some people have attributed magical properties to it, considering it one of the broadest magical formulas in the occident. An article on the square from The Saint Louis Medical and Surgical Journal vol. 76, reports that palindromes were viewed as being immune to tampering by the devil,^[clarify] hence their popularity in magical use.

The square has reportedly been used in folk magic for various purposes, including putting out fires^[5], removing jinxes and fevers^[6], to protect cattle from witchcraft [1] and against fatigue when traveling^[7]. It is sometimes claimed it must be written upon a certain material, or else with a certain type of ink to achieve its magical effect.

[edit] Numerology

Using numerology, one can assign the value 1 to the letter A, 2 to the letter B, and so on, up to 26 for the letter Z. Then, adding the values assigned to the letters in the rows and columns of the Sator square yields the following:

       S A T O R  73
       A R E P O  55
       T E N E T  64
       O P E R A  55
       R O T A S  73

Each of these values digit sum to 10 and therefore also to 1, which some numerologists maintain gives the square "extraordinary powers".^[8]

[edit] In popular culture

• In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series the (fictional) city of Ankh-Morpork has a town square named Sator Square.^[9]
• In the 2000AD comic series Sláine, the Sator Square was used as a magical incantaion.
• It is also featured in Valerio Evangelisti's sci-fi book Cherudek, in which an entire town seems to be based on the Sator Square. The book suggests an interpretation of the square that will allow the characters to leave the town.
• Anton Webern’s Concerto Op. 24 is apparently based on the square, and the square is displayed on a memorial,^[10] near the site where he was shot in Mittersill in 1945.
• The Simon Necronomicon offers a variation, supposedly Sumerian in origin, that reads 'Danzarg Anzargd Nzargda Zargdan Argdanz Rgdanza Gdanzar'. These meanings are unknown. Each "word" though can be produced from the previous by rotating the letters one place to the left.
• The symbol of the Sator Arts Foundation, a San Diego based arts charity. ^[11]

[edit] See also

• Magic square
• Word square
• Heavy On The Magick - a 1986 computer game shows the Sator Square on a sign on the wall.

[edit] References

• "'Arepo' in the Magic 'Sator' Square'": J. Gwyn Griffiths, The Classical Review, New Ser., Vol. 21, No. 1., March 1971, pp. 6–8.
• "A Specimen of Ancient Incidental Roman Epigraphy": Carlos Pérez-Rubin, Documenta & Instrumenta, No. 2 2004, published by the Faculty of Geography and History, Madrid University (Universitas Complutensis)

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Duncan Fishwick, An Early Christian Cryptogram?(HTML)
• Sator Square, inscribed, Article; the article uses: "Rotas square"
• John T. Cullen, God Holds The Plough, But You Turn The Furrows: Conjecture on the Sator Rebus" (HTML)"
• "Section of Page and Eloise's Memorial website related to the Sator Square, 1995 (HTML)"