Editing Sator Square (section)

{{Short description|Word square with a Latin palindrome}}
{{Other uses|Sator (disambiguation){{!}}Sator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Sator Square at Oppède.jpg|thumb|right|A Sator Square (laid out in the SATOR-format), etched onto a wall in the medieval fortress town of [[Oppède|Oppède-le-Vieux]], France]]

The '''Sator Square''' (or '''Rotas-Sator Square''' or '''Templar Magic Square''') is a two-dimensional [[acrostic]] class of [[word square]] containing a five-word [[Latin]] [[palindrome]].<ref name=MRS/>  The earliest squares were found at Roman-era sites, all in ROTAS-form (where the top line is "ROTAS", not "SATOR"), with the earliest discovery at [[Pompeii]] (and also likely pre-AD 62).{{efn|name=PS}}  The earliest square with Christian-associated imagery dates from the sixth century.{{efn|name=Coptic}} By the [[Middle Ages]], Sator squares had been found across [[Europe]], [[Asia Minor]], and [[North Africa]].<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/>  In 2022, the ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]'' called it "the most familiar lettered square in the Western world".<ref name=EB/>

A significant volume of academic research has been published on the square, but after more than a century, there is no consensus on its origin and meaning.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=RB/><ref name=ENC/>  The discovery of the "Paternoster theory" in 1926 led to a brief consensus among academics that the square was created by early Christians, but the subsequent discoveries at Pompeii led many academics to believe that the square was more likely created as a Roman word puzzle (as per the [[Temple of Venus and Roma#Architecture|Roma-Amor puzzle]]), which was later adopted by Christians.  This origin theory, however,  fails to explain how a Roman word puzzle then became such a powerful religious and magical medieval symbol. It has instead been argued that the square was created in its ROTAS-form as a Jewish symbol, embedded with cryptic religious symbolism, which was later adopted in its SATOR-form by Christians.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Baines/> There are many other less-supported academic origin theories, such as a [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] or [[Stoicism|Stoic]] puzzle, a [[Gnostic]] or [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] or Italian pagan [[amulet]], a cryptic [[Mithraic]] or [[Semitic people|Semitic]] numerology charm, or that it was simply a device for working out wind directions.<ref name=MRS/>

The square has long associations with magical powers throughout its history (and even up to the 19th century in North and South America), including a perceived ability to extinguish fires, particularly in Germany.  The square appears in early and late medieval medical textbooks such as the [[Trotula]], and was employed as a medieval cure for many ailments, particularly for dog bites and [[rabies]], as well as for insanity, and relief during childbirth.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/>

It has featured in a diverse range of contemporary artworks including fiction books, paintings, musical scores, and films,<ref name=ENC/> and most notably in [[Christopher Nolan]]'s 2020 film ''[[Tenet (film)|Tenet]]''.<ref name=vox/>  In 2020, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' called it "one of the closest things the classical world had to a [[meme]]".<ref name=DT>{{cite web | newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | title=How Tenet was inspired by palindromes, the memes of the ancient world | first=Sam | last=Leith | date=30 August 2020 | access-date=20 September 2022 | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2020/08/30/tenet-inspired-palindromes-memes-ancient-world/}}</ref>