Ancient Cryptography

General => Other Mysteries => Topic started by: rriss on September 11, 2008, 11:06:51 AM

Title: Ancient "Magic" Square
Post by: rriss on September 11, 2008, 11:06:51 AM

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.

Title: Re: Ancient "Magic" Square
Post by: Aaron on September 11, 2008, 08:49:14 PM

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?