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Ancient Cryptography » General » Other Mysteries » Ancient "Magic" Square

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rriss

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Ancient "Magic" Square
« 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.

Richard M. Riss, Ph.D.
Professor of Church History
Somerset Christian College
10 College Way
Zarephath, NJ  08890

Aaron

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Re: Ancient "Magic" Square
« Reply #1 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?

 


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