Palindromes

The palindrome is a literary device in which a phrase, number, word, or sequence reads the same when read either from the left or the right.  The word “palindrome” was invented in the seventeenth century by the British writer Ben Johnson (1572-1637), from two Greek words; palin (πάλιν), meaning “again,” "back," "further," or "on the other hand," and dromos (δρόμος), meaning "road," “way,” or “direction.”

The earliest known palindrome is from 79 AD/CE, found in the ruins of the city of Herculaneum which was destroyed along with Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted.  79 AD is squarely within the late New Testament period.

The palindrome found in Herculaneum is actually four palindromes, a word square, cut into a square block of stone.  The Latin inscription reads “Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas” which in English reads as “The sower, Arepo, holds works wheels.” The phrase reads the same if read from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top.

                                    SATOR

                                    AREPO

                                    TENET

                                    OPERA

                                    ROTAS