Palindromic Text

Palindromic text, is the inscription that is read the same from left to right as well as right to left. The best-known  Palindromic inscription is the following:

“ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ”

This inscription was originally written on the fountain of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople but no longer survives. It means to wash away your sins, not just your face. Today, some Greek monasteries have copied the inscription on their own fountain in their courtyard…

In ancient Greece, their writings used only capital letters and did not leave spaces between words. Thus, in some monasteries the above inscription is:

“ΝΙΨΟΝΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑΜΗΜΟΝΑΝΟΨΙΝ”

We do not know with certainty which of the two forms it was written in Hagia Sophia. Such inscriptions have been written by Byzantine, but also by Latin monks. The Romans have also written cancer inscriptions, such as this one:

“In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni”

It means: We enter the night and are consumed by fire (referring to insects that fall into the fire at night).