PALINDROMES - THE SHAPE OF ENERGETIC FLOW & SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS/Templar Square

The arcticle below, "The Christian Palindrome," Sarolta Tatar reveals the history of the iconic Sator Square or Templar Square among other names. The author's conclusion ties the Sator square securely to a Christian lineage in symbol, metaphor, provenance, etc. For such a concise arcticle, many points of information are explored regarding historical points of interest, features, and religous context. Tatar concludes the that the square is thoroughly Christian both in origin and practice.

The importance of palindromes as key representations of energetic flow cannot be overstated. Palindromes focus energy to and from a central ZERO or NODE of balance. Instead of a single linear relationship and depending on the length of the palindrome, exponential flows of information/data may be captured as just one example of energetic practical application. In a following post, another historical perspective will be included as a means of comparison to this installment. The revelations revealed from the comparison will certainly give pause. Enjoy the read!

The Christian Palindrome — An Ancient Confession of Faith

What is a Palindrome?

SAROLTA TATAR

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Published in

GLOBAL CHRISTENDOM— History and Culture

·8 min read

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Aug 17, 2020

 The Sator Square found in Herculaneum, dated before AD 79.

A palindrome is a sequence of sounds, words, musical notes, or numbers that reads the same backwards as forwards. Examples from the English would be words like madam, or eye or racecar.

Creating palindromes was a popular social game in Antiquity. Several Greek and Latin poets are said to have written entire poems in palindrome, but no examples survive. The custom was also adapted by ancient magic and on pagan temple and Christian church inscriptions, to create inscriptions that could be read both forward and backward. This was believed to enhance the magical or religious power of an object, perhaps by creating stronger meditation, since more mental effort was put into reading it.

We can consider the religious or magical palindrome as a form of meditation, and when it is inscribed in a church or an object, it becomes a public profession of faith.

The Ancient Christian Palindrome

Version 1:

The Christian Palindrome as it appears on an amphora fragment, ca. AD. 185.

The so-called Sator Square found in Herculaneum, a city buried by ash together with Pompeii in AD. 79, contains a palindrome inscription: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. This has been interpreted with a secular meaning: The Sower Arepo Holds With Effort the Wheels. But this interpretation makes little sense. Why would anybody inscribe this in a public square, anyway?

The appearance of versions of this palindrome on Christian objects, will reveal that this is in fact the mysterious Christian palindrome.

Here is an example from an amphora fragment inscribed with an inverted version of the same palindrome, dated ca. 185 AD.

Amphora fragment with the Christian Palindrome, ca. AD. 185.

Interpretation: Sator (the Sower = Christ) Arepo (= at the plough, i.e. “on the cross”) Tenet (= holds) Opera (= with his works/sacrifice) Rotas (= the wheels / symbolic for Fate /Wheel of Fortuna).

The Symbolism of Sowing and Ploughing

This image is taken from the parables of Jesus:

“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Mat. 13: 1–9)

By indicating that the cross is the plough of Jesus, our associations move to the Cross as the tool of Redemption, by which He sows His Salvation for Mankind.

What is the Wheel of Fate?

Edward Burne-Jones: The Wheel of Fortune, 1875–83

Fortuna`s Wheel was a popular cliché in Roman literature and medieval Christian art and literature. In artistic depictions, the Roman goddess Fortuna is presented sitting on top of a wheel that crushes kings, popes and the worthy underneath itself, while uplifting the poor, the stupid and the unworthy. It is not meant to be a commentary on social justice, but aims instead to depict that Fate chooses who shall be lucky not based on personal worthiness, but on blind stupidity. It can crush anyone or uplift someone you never imagined.

On this subject a Roman poet wrote:

Philosophers say that Fortune is insane and blind and stupid,and they teach that she stands on a rolling, spherical rock:they affirm that, wherever chance pushes that rock, Fortuna falls in that direction.They repeat that she is blind for this reason: that she does not see where she’s heading;they say she’s insane, because she is cruel, flaky and unstable; stupid, because she can’t distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy.

— Pacuvius, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta. Vol. 1, ed. O. Ribbeck, 1897

The idea of a spinning wheel that controls Fate was older than the Roman goddess Fortuna, who was later associated with it. The idea itself comes from Babylonian astrology, and was later adapted by all astrological systems that believed in the Babylonian 9 heavenly spheres, including the Greek and the Roman. In this system, the first 7 heavens hold the planets, the 8th heaven holds the fixed stars, and the 9th heaven holds the signs of the Zodiac.

Since astrology meant the study of how the Zodiac moves across segments of the Heaven we observe, and how the Sun and planets relate to the Zodiac to create individual and geographical Fate, the moving 9th sphere was indeed the “Wheel of Fate”, before Fortuna was placed on top of it.

In the second century AD, astronomer and astrologer Vettius Valens wrote:

“There are many wheels, most moving from west to east, but some move from east to west.

Seven wheels, each hold one heavenly object, the first holds the moon…

Then the eighth wheel holds all the stars that we see…

And the ninth wheel, the wheel of fortunes, moves from east to west,

and includes each of the twelve signs of fortune, the twelve signs of the zodiac.

Each wheel is inside the other, like an onion’s peel sits inside another peel, and there is no empty space between them.”

(Vettius Valens, Anthology, various chapters, 2nd century AD.)

By referring to Christ as someone who controls the wheels of Fate through his sacrifice on the cross, the palindrome is stating that Man can become free of his Destiny by repenting and following Christ. Since the Zodiac also controlled geographical areas and entire populations, this statement is also tantamount to claiming that Christ — or the Biblical God Jehova — is the Lord of History.

It is interesting to note that this palindrome has two sub-versions: the version from the town square in Herculaneum is inverted compared to the version on the 2nd century amphora.

The Herculenaum version can be read as following: The wheels (Fate/Zodiac) are worked (crucifixion/sacrifice) held by / the man on the plough (Christ/on the cross), the sower (Christ/ the teacher).

The palindrome thus sums up a theological message: Jesus` teachings are the seeds that He sows, his teachings are fulfilled by His death on the cross (and the resurrection), and by following the teachings of Jesus and believing in his death and resurrection by the Cross, we can be free from the tyranny of Fate/History (embodied by the Zodiac and astrological predictions).

Version 2:

Only the letter N is repeated once in this palindrome. All the other letters can be arranged around a central N in a cross shape, to form the words Pater Noster (“Our Father”), with the redundant letters A and O taking the place of Alpha and Omega (twice).

This becomes a visually cross-shaped confession of faith, which refers to several Bible passages, most notably the Calvary, Death and Resurrection of Jesus (through the cross).

The Pater Noster text that makes up the two sides of the cross, refers to the principal Christian prayer (The Lord`s Prayer) which was taught to us by Jesus. The Lord`s Prayer is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and follows Jesus` admonitions about how his followers should pray. It is recorded in both Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

(Matthew 6: 9–13)

The a and o (alpha and omega) refer to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (although this palindrome is in the Latin alphabet), which are referred to in the Book of Revelations as a metaphor for the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The passage refers to the Revelations of John:

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelations 21:5–8)

Bust of Christ with the Alpha and Omega from the Greek alphabet, ceiling fresco, Leo’s cubicle, Catacombs of Commodilla, Rome, Italy, 4th century

“Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong;

let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy. “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelations 22: 10–13)

The second version becomes an apocalyptic call to prayer, and a reminder that we have a Father in Heaven who will give us our daily bread and forgive us, if we only pray for it and cease hostilities in our own lives. It is also a confession in the Divinity of Jesus, since by declaring Himself Beginning and End (Alpha and Omega, the first and last letter), Christ is also declaring that he is Creator and Destroyer, alongside the Father. Jehova, or the Holy Trinity, is the Creator and Destroyer of all things, of the entire Cosmic Order. These are themes from the Old Testament that culminates in Revelations, and echoes the many apocalyptic sayings of Jesus, where He refers to Heaven and Hell. The second version thus sums up the Final Judgment of Jehova upon each soul, the need for prayer for the sake of our life and death, the Divinity of Jesus, and the theological continuation and fulfillment of the Old Testament in the New Testament.

• Source: The Image of Christ. Ed.: Gabriele Finaldi. Chapter about palindrome and coin of Emperor Valens by Gabriele Finaldi. National Gallery C.L. London, Distributed by Yale University Press. 2000 (reprint 2011), p. 39.

Written by SAROLTA TATAR