Discovered in the ruins of a Pompeii house covered in the ash of Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 AD, this was found etched into the wall of a home:
R O T A S
O P E R A
T E N E T
A P E R O
S A T O R
These are five words in Latin which roughly translate to: "The sower/farmer with his eye on the plough turns the wheel with care."
Essentially a veiled reference [some argue] to the sower parable told by Jesus, with references to the "plough" as a nod to discipleship and keeping our eye [and our hands] to the plough [which is yet another metaphor used by Jesus in terms of discipleship].
But that's not all.
Notice that the first word "ROTAS" runs left and right at the top of the square, but also runs north and south at the far left of the square.
Now, notice that "ROTAS" at the top and "SATOR" at the bottom are the same word written backwards and forwards.
Notice also that "OPERA" and "APERO" in the next rows are mirrors of each other.
Now, notice that the center word "TENET" is itself a palindrome [meaning it's the same spelled forward or backwards].
Also note that "TENET" runs left and right and north and south which forms a cross in the center of the square.
And please also notice that the letter "T" is fixed at the center top and bottom, and the center left and right. [The letter "T" was synonymous with the symbol for the cross].
So...what's the big deal?
Well, if you take those letters and scramble them - keeping the letter "N" at the dead center - you end up with the phrase "PATER NOSTER" which, in Latin is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father".
And also, there are two sets of "Our Father" which form the shape of the cross with the two letters "A" and "O" left over.
Why are those significant? Because "A" and "O" map to the words "Alpha" and "Omega".
For a more detailed explanation, watch this video:
Essentially, this First Century word puzzle was an early Christian way of sharing their faith in an interesting and creative way.
What do you think?
Leave your comments below.
-kg
Wow. That's cool!
ReplyDeleteIn the Romano-British town of Corinium (modern day Cirencester, about 20 miles north of my present home city of Bristol) there was a house with the same inscription carefully scratched onto the wall plaster.
ReplyDeleteIf a Christian identify can be proved from the description (and not all scholars take this view), the discovery may be evidence of a possible location for the meeting of a house church in Cirencester in the second century.