Roman Puzzles

• The most famous Roman Puzzle is the Sator Square.
• It is a Roman Palindrome written on a square grid.

The Sator Square

• The Sator Square is also known as the ‘Rotas Square’.
• The Sator Square was a Roman Puzzle written on a square grid.
• It is a Palindrome, ie, it reads both forwards or backwards and from the top to the bottom and Vice Versa.
• The arrangement of words translates as follows: ‘The wheels with care guides Arepo the Sower’ or ‘Arepo the Sower guides the wheels with care.’
  

  R	O	T	A	S
  O	P	E	R	A
  T	E	N	E	T
  A	R	E	P	O
  A	A	T	O	R

Locations of Sator Squares

• Manchester, Britannia: (185 CE) Found on a wine amphora near the Roman Fort of Mamucium at Castlefield, Manchester.
• Cirencester (Corinium), Britannia.
• Dura Europos, Syria. Found on a parchment.
• Pompeii, Italia
• Conimbriga, near Coimbra, Lusitania (Portugal)

Possible Meanings of the Sator Square

• A Christian Meaning:
  • The Sator Square is thought to have had a Christian meaning as it conceals the word ‘Paternoster’. However, the Pompeii Find suggests that it was pre-Christian.
  • It has also been suggested that the five words in the square are the names of the five nails of Christ.
•  A Magical Meaning:
  • An alternative view is that the Sator Square had a magical role in warding off the symptoms of an unknown illness, similar to the word Abracadabra.
  • The word Abracadabra first appears in a Roman Work of the third century CE called ‘Liber Medicinalis’ by Caracalla‘s physician. Written in triangular form and placed inside an Amulet, it’s magic influence was believed to alleviate the symptoms of malaria.
  • The Bath Curse Tablets had words written upon them that were thought to hold a magical power, and put a curse on the thief of the victims possessions.