most commonly refers to the Sator Square , an ancient Latin word square that forms a five-word palindrome. It is a famous piece of wordplay discovered in the ruins of Pompeii.
In the film, the square represents the concept of inversion and the non-linear nature of time, mirroring the palindromic nature of the ancient artifact. Magical and Folk Traditions most commonly refers to the Sator Square ,
A common translation is: "The sower Arepo holds the wheels with care." While semantically simple, most researchers believe the literal translation is secondary to the square’s symbolic or "magical" purpose. The Christian "Paternoster" Theory most commonly refers to the Sator Square ,