WHAT IT IS

A palindromic word or phrase reads the same from left to right and from right to left. In antiquity they were called "crab verses" (karkinikoi stichoi — in the manner of a crab). In the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM), palindromic words were considered especially powerful — they created a "closed energy cycle" where the power of the invocation was trapped within the amulet.

HISTORY & SOURCES

The first to systematize the composition of palindromic verses was the poet Sotades of Maroneia (3rd cent. BC) — hence the name "Sotadean meters." In the PGM (Papyri Graecae Magicae), the Gnostics and Hermetists of Alexandria (1st–4th cent. AD) used them ritually. Marcus the Gnostic was the main proponent of the theory that the alphabet and its numerical properties (like palindromy) are the mirror of the universe. The most famous palindrome: ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ (Wash your sins, not only your face) — was inscribed above the fountain of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

HOW IT WORKS

Word: ΙΩΤΑ
Reverse: ΑΤΩΙ
ΙΩΤΑ ≠ ΑΤΩΙ → not a palindrome
Word: ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘΑΝΑΛΒΑ
Reverse: ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘΑΝΑΛΒΑ ✓ Palindrome!
Optical palindromy: the letters are a mirror (e.g. ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘΑΝΑΛΒΑ)
Numerical palindromy: the lexarithmos is a palindromic number (e.g. ΙΗΣΟΥΣ = 888)

CONCLUSION

Two forms of palindromy: optical (the letters are a mirror) and numerical (the lexarithmos is palindromic). ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (888) is not a palindromic word in terms of letters, but its lexarithmos is perfectly palindromic — in arithmosophy this is considered more powerful than simple optical palindromy.