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The Spellbook · Protection

The Spellbook · Ancient Magic

The SATOR Square: A Word-Square Charm for the Home

How to write and hang the SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS word square as a charm for the home, with its Pompeii origins, the Paternoster theory and later uses.

  • TraditionRoman Empire (Pompeii, before AD 79); medieval and early modern Christian folk magic
  • ForProtection, Home & hearth
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time20 minutes
  • WhenNo fixed rule; often made at the New Year, on moving into a house, or on a Sunday
Valprato Soana, the statue of Christ near the entrance to the parish church (on the pillar that supports the statue is carved the Sator Square)
Valprato Soana, the statue of Christ near the entrance to the parish church (on the pillar that supports the statue is carved the Sator Square)Laurom · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The SATOR square is a five-by-five grid of Latin letters that reads the same forwards, backwards, upwards and downwards: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS. Scratched on walls at Pompeii before the eruption of AD 79, it later became one of the most widespread charms of Christian Europe and the Near East, written over doorways, on bells and plates, and in books of remedies to protect the house from fire, sickness and harm. Making one for your own home is simple and connects you to almost two thousand years of use.

How to do it§

  1. Prepare. Choose good paper or a small board. Clean the place where it will hang: traditionally above the main door, by the hearth or kitchen stove, or near the beds.

  2. Rule the grid. Draw a square of five by five cells. Take your time; the square's power, in the traditional view, lies in its perfect symmetry, so neatness matters.

  3. Write the letters. Fill in the five words, one per row:

    S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S

    Check that the words read the same down the columns. The central word TENET forms a cross through the middle of the square, with the letter N at its heart.

  4. Bless it. Hold the finished square and say a blessing in keeping with your faith. Christians traditionally used the Lord's Prayer, since the letters can be rearranged to spell Pater noster; a simple modern form for anyone is "Peace to this house and all who dwell in it; may it be kept from fire, sickness and harm."

  5. Hang it. Fix the square above the door or near the hearth, letters facing into the room. Some also carry a small copy in a wallet or put one in a new car.

  6. Renew. Replace it when it fades or at the New Year. Old squares may be burned safely in a heat-proof dish or buried, with thanks.

Origins and history§

The oldest known examples come from Pompeii: one, in the ROTAS order, was found in 1925 scratched on a column of the house of Paquius Proculus, and another in 1936 in the Great Palaestra. Both must predate AD 79. Others were found at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates (third century) and on Roman wall plaster at Cirencester in England, discovered in 1868. The word AREPO is otherwise unknown; it may be a proper name or a word coined to complete the square, and attempts to translate the whole sentence ("the sower Arepo holds the wheels with effort" is one) remain guesses.

Photograph taken in 1937 of a Sator Square (in ROTAS-form, item CIL IV, 08623) found on a column in the Grand Palaestra, in Pompeii. The photograph was taken by noted Italian archaeologist Matteo Della Corte.…
Photograph taken in 1937 of a Sator Square (in ROTAS-form, item CIL IV, 08623) found on a column in the Grand Palaestra, in Pompeii. The photograph was taken by noted Italian archaeologist Matteo Della Corte.…Matteo Della Corte · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

In 1926 the German pastor Felix Grosser, with others independently, noticed that the twenty-five letters can be rearranged into a cross formed by PATERNOSTER twice, sharing the central N, with two As and two Os left over, read as Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8). This made the square a hidden Christian emblem. The theory remains controversial, since a Christian cryptogram at Pompeii before 79 would be very early, and some scholars think the square was Jewish, pagan or simply a word game that Christians later adopted.

Whatever its origin, by late antiquity it was firmly Christian. In Coptic and Ethiopic tradition its words became names, among others of the shepherds at the Nativity and the nails of the Cross. Medieval manuscripts prescribe it against fever, dog bites and difficult childbirth. In early modern Germany it was written on wooden or pewter plates thrown into burning houses in the hope of quenching the fire, and John George Hohman's Pennsylvania German charm book Der lange verborgene Freund (1820), known in English as The Long-Lost Friend, includes it among protective formulas. Examples survive on church walls, bells, amulets and household objects across Europe.

Variations§

The ROTAS form, beginning with ROTAS rather than SATOR, is the older order at Pompeii. Some write the square within a circle or add the letters A and O at its corners. Older charm books sometimes ordered the square to be written on bread or fruit and eaten, or fed to animals; that practice is not recommended. Others draw it on a fireplace lintel in chalk.

Safety and good sense§

A paper charm is not a smoke alarm: keep detectors working, have chimneys swept and appliances checked, and keep an extinguisher in the kitchen. If you burn an old square, use a heat-proof dish away from anything flammable and never leave it unattended. The square is a sign of blessing and no substitute for medical, legal or practical help.

Sources and further reading§