Editing Sator Square (section)

===Other theories===

The amount of academic research published on the Rotas-Sator square is regarded as being considerable (and even described by one source as "immense");<ref name=RB/> American academic [[Rose Mary Sheldon]] attempted to catalog and review the most prominent works in a 2003 paper published in ''[[Cryptologia]]''.<ref name=MRS/> Among the more diverse but less supported theories Sheldon recorded were:

* Several German academics have written on the links of the square to [[Pythagoreanism]] and [[Stoicism]], including philologist {{ill|Hildebrecht Hommel|de}}, historian {{ill|Wolfgang Christian Schneider|de}}, and Heinz Hoffman, among others.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/> Schneider believed the square was an important link between [[Etruscan religion]] and Stoic academic philosophy.  Hommel believed that in the Stoic tradition, the Ephesian word AREPO would be discarded, and the square would be read in the boustrophedon style as SATOR OPERA TENET, TENET OPERA SATOR, translating as "The Creator preserves his works".<ref name=MRS/><ref name=ENC/> German scholar {{ill|Ulrich Ernst|de}} writing the Sator square's entry in ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'' found this theory persuasive,<ref name=ENC/> but [[Miroslav Marcovich]] refuted the translation.<ref name=MM/>
* Several academics link the square to [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] origins, such as Jean Doignon, Gustav Maresch, [[Adolfo Omodeo]], and {{ill|Hildebrecht Hommel|de}}.  English [[Egyptology|egyptogolist]] [[J. Gwyn Griffiths]] explains AREPO as a personal name derived from the Egyptian name "Hr-Hp", and sources the square to an Alexandrine origin where a gnostic tradition employed acrostics.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=ENC/>
* Some academics link the square to [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic cults]], including Serbian historian [[Milan Budimir]] who linked the Greek form of AREPO to the name Orpheus.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/>
* Italian academic Adolfo Omodeo linked the square to [[Mithraic]] origins as the Roman-era discoveries were in military locations with whom it was popular, while academic historian Walter O. Moeller attempted to derive a Mithraic relationship using perceived mathematical patterns in the square, but his arguments were not considered convincing by other academics.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/><ref name=Moeller>{{cite book | title=The Mithraic Origin and Meanings of the Rotas-Sator Square | first=Walter |last=Moeller | date=December 1973 | isbn=978-90-04-03751-9 | publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ferguson|first=Everett|title=Backgrounds of early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuKkxU4-ncC&pg=PA590|year=2003|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-2221-5|pages=590–}}</ref>
* Norwegian [[classical philology|philologist]] [[Samson Eitrem]] took the last half of the square starting at ''N'' to get: "net opera rotans", which translates as "She spins her works", interpreting it to be a feminine being (i.e. [[Hecate]]), a demon, or even the square itself rotating on its TENET spokes, thus giving a peasant Italian pagan origin with the square as a wind indicator.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Fishwick/>
* Some academics such as Swiss archeologist {{ill|Waldemar Deonna|fr}} have proposed that it is a numerical number square, which would also imply a [[Semitic people|Semitic]] origin.<ref name=MRS/> A significant issue is that the square is in Latin, and Romans did not have the ciphered number system of the Greeks or the Semites. However, if the letters are [[Transliteration|transliterated]] to Greek, and then assigned ciphered numbers, the word TENET can be rendered as 666, the [[number of the beast]].<ref name=MRS/> Walter O. Moeller analyzed the resultant numerical combinations to assert that the square was made by Mithraic numerologists.<ref name=MRS/><ref name=Moeller/>
* In 1925, Zatzman interpreted the square as a Hebraic or Aramaic [[Apotropaic magic|apotropaic formula]] against the devil, and translated the square to read: "Satan Adama Tabat Amada Natas".<ref name=MRS/>
* In 1958, French historian [[Paul-Louis Couchoud]] proposed a novel interpretation as the square being a device for working out wind directions.<ref name=MRS/>