Ancient Cryptography
General => Other Mysteries => Topic started by: rriss on September 11, 2008, 11:06:51 AM
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This "magic square" has been found scratched on walls throughout the Roman Empire, in places like Cirencester in England, Pompeii, and Dura-Europos in Mosopotamia. The letters spell the same words backward and forward, up and down. The exact meaning remains unsolved. Here it is:
ROTAS
OPERA
TENET
AREPO
SATOR
The individual words in Latin all have obvious meanings, but seem unrelated. Taken together, does the magic square have a meaning or message? If there is a meaning, it has never been deciphered.
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Maybe it was graffiti from a gang of OCD people? I do like the symmetry, but replcaing letters with numbers does not yield a recognizable pattern. But then, I'm using today's numbering. Which alphabet did they have in that timeframe?