Christian Associations
Around the central Latin letter Ν (en,) a Greek cross can be made that reads both vertically and horizontally the first two words of the 'Pater Noster' (Pater Noster translates as "Our Father", the first words of the Lord's Prayer), each line is surrounded with A and O which represents the Alpha and Omega. The associations indicate the square may have been a safe, hidden way for early Christians to signal their presence to each other in a city without exposing themselves to persecution. The Sator Square uncovered in Manchester has been interpreted as early evidence for the arrival of Christianity in Britain.
The 'Prayer of the Virgin in Bartos' says that Christ was crucified with five nails, which were named Sator, Arepo, Tenet, Opera and Rotas.
Other authorities believe the Sator Square was Mithraic or Jewish in origin because it is not likely that Pompeii had a large Christian population in 79 A.D and the symbolism inferred as Christian and the use of Latin in Christianity is not attested to until later.
Read more about this topic: Sator Square
Famous quotes containing the words christian and/or associations:
“It is hard for those who have never known persecution,
And who have never known a Christian,
To believe these tales of Christian persecution.
It is hard for those who live near a Bank
To doubt the security of their money.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not distinctly attend, passed for a sound of human industry.... Our minds anywhere, when left to themselves, are always thus busily drawing conclusions from false premises.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)