Wordplay: Magic square

〈:pars I〉
S
〈:vacat〉
Δ

〈:pars II〉
rotas
opera
tenet
arepo
sator

〈:pars III〉
A N O


Translation: (Five words that can be read horizontally or vertically, backward and forward)
Findspot: Pompeii, Campus ad amphitheatrum (II.7.1)
Precise Location: col. LXI, stria 11
Language: Latin
Writing Style: Graffito/incised
Apparatus Criticus: Textus secundum (13). Contulerunt Benefiel et Sypniewski (AGP) a. 2019.
Tectorium huius tituli excisum est et in repositis translatum est. Nunc evanidum est (22).
Pars I: littera S maior omnibus aliis litteris, et Δ(?) leviter incisa est. Utrum hi versus ad quinque versus infra pertineant dubitatur.
Pars II: unus de notissimis titulis Pompeianis. Saepe testimonium christianorum esse creditur, sed unum exemplum de multis ludis quadratis verborum (18),(21). Cf. CIL 04, 08297.
Pars II, v. 4: multi quid AREPO significet explicare conati sunt, e.g. verbum celticum (11), sententia in litteris singulis condita: A R(erum) E(xtremarum) P(rincipio) O(mni) (6).
Pars III: etiam L M O legi potest (23) et levius ceteris, ut videtur in imagine apud (22). Utrum hic versus ad quinque versus supra pertineat dubitatur.
Supra EDR127824 (SAVTRAN VALE). Idem nomen in stria 10 invenitur (EDR127823, SAVTRAN VA).
In eadem columna EDR127816, EDR127817, EDR127818 (stria 5); EDR127819 (stria 6); EDR127820 (stria 6-10); EDR127821 (stria 6-7), EDR127822 (stria 7); EDR127823 (stria 10); EDR167589 (stria 13); EDR127826, EDR127827 (stria 14); EDR127140, EDR127231, EDR127233, EDR127234 (stria 15); EDR167628 (stria 16-17)
Bibliography: Atti Pont. Ac. Rom. Arch., 12, 1936, p. 179-84 (A. Degrassi) - AE 1937 (1)
AE 1937, p. 11 s. n. 11 (2)
Rend. Ac. Arch. Nap., 17, 1937, p. 79-99 (M. Della Corte) - AE 1948 (3)
Rend. Ac. Arch. Nap., 19, 1938-1939, p. 3-32 (M. Della Corte) - AE 1948 (4)
Not. Sc., 64, 1939, p. 263-64, nr. 138-140 con foto (M. Della Corte) (5)
Mitt. Deutsch. Arch. Inst. (Roemisch.), 57, 1942, p. 250 (T. Valentiner) - AE 1945 (6)
Act. Ac. Ab., 15, 1945, p. 1-17 (J. Sundwall) - AE 1946 (7)
AE 1945, 0117 (8)
AE 1946, 0276 (9)
AE 1948, 0156 (10)
Mus. Helv., 5, 1948-1949, p. 16-59 (J. Carcopino) - AE 1949 (11)
AE 1949, 0112 (12)
CIL 04, 08623 con apografo et commentario (13)
Arch. Class., 17, 1965, p. 261-64 (M. Guarducci) (14)
Arch. Class., 19, 1967, p. 144 sgg. (M. Guarducci) (15)
Class. Rev., 21, 1971, p. 6-8 (G. Griffiths) (16)
ANRW 16.2, 1978, p. 1736-73 (M. Guarducci) (17)
A. Varone, Presenze Guidaiche e Cristiane a Pompei, Napoli 1979, p. 53-71 (18)
HD023014 (19)
Cryptologia, 27, 2003, p. 233-87 (R. M. Sheldon) (20)
The Muse at Play. Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry, München 2012, p 65-80 (R. Benefiel) (21)
A. Varone, Titulorum graphio exaratorum qui in CIL Vol. IV collecti sunt imagines, Roma 2012, vol. I, p. 144 con foto (22)
http://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-EDR073638 (23)
Link to EDR: #EDR073638
Suggested Citation: AGP-EDR073638, The Ancient Graffiti Project, <http://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-EDR073638> [accessed: 28 Mar 2024]
Contributions:

Editor: Rebecca Benefiel

Principal Contributors: Holly Sypniewski, Scheithauer, Holly Sypniewski

Last Revision: 2019-09-03

Findspot: