Under the umbrella or train, enigmistic It is pastime that trains the mind by having fun. But its story is ancient: from the puzzles of the Sphinx and Sansone to the words of Cicero and Leonardo, up to the Galileo rebus; In the nineteenth century the first magazines arrive and, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the term “enigmistic” entered the Italian vocabulary, consecrating a practice that combines logic, creativity and culture. This discipline is considered a real artand has its roots in antiquity, when it was already widespread composing Riddles, puzzles and words games.
Riddles in antiquity: the enigma of the Sphinx
In ancient times, riddles were not considered “games” but real Intelligence testsplaced to measure the force not only of the body, but also of the mind and soul. The first enigma of history is considered the riddle that the sphinx He puts at the gates of the city of Thebes, in Egypt: who was wrong the answer, was devoured. Alone Oedipus he managed to solve him, becoming king of the city:
“What is the animal that in the morning advances with four legs, at noon with two and in the evening with three?”
The answer is “The man”which as a very small kitty, then learns to walk on two legs and then, as an elderly, needs the stick.
An riddle is also documented in the Bible: Samsonin chapter 14 of the judges’s book, puts a riddle to the Philistines who, if resolved, would have represented the end of the disputes between them:
“Food came out of the devourer and the dessert came out of the fort”
The solution is The lion that Samson himself had killedand who in turn had eaten a honey honey. The Philistines, however, managed to obtain the solution with the deception: they threatened Sansone’s wife until they reveal the answer. In turn, they proposed a riddle that resumed the same game: “From the food it came out what is not food, from the fort was released what is not sweet”, thus hiding the same solution behind a similar puzzle and putting Sansone in difficulty.
At the time of the Romans: the Sator’s square in Pompeii and joking greetings signed by Cicero
In Pompeii a “Square of the Sator”or a Latin inscription containing five words, Sator – Arepo – Tenat – Opera – Rotaswhich form a palindrome that can be read both horizontally and vertically.
The doubt about the effective meaning of the text relates to the Word Arepowhich does not appear in Latin, but which has hypothesized can correspond to a type of chariot. In this case, the Sator could be translated as follows: “The sower, on the cart, cares with the wheels” carefully “. The ancients gave a scope to the square esoteric, Almost magical: there is a trace of artifacts of this type also in theEgypt of the 4th and 5th century AD, in Mesopotamia, in a Latin manuscript of 882 ADpreserved in the French National Library, which Paracelsus (doctor, alchemist, Swiss-German astrologer and philosopher) seems to use as an amulet with esoteric properties (it is however an information not attestted historically). Examples with the same words found in Pompeii exist around Italy, for example at Duomo of Siena.
Another “enigmistic” game of Roman era is a greeting that Cicero places at the end of his letter: “Mitto Tibi Navem PRORA PUPPIQUE DIGANTEM”that is to say “I send you a ship without bow and without the stern“. Let’s imagine to deprive the word “Navem” and the first and last letter, namely the bow and the stern, it would remain “Ave”that is, the greeting at the end of the letter.
The puzzles between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
In the Middle Ages, the first riddle written in Italian dates back, The Veronese riddlewhich superimposes the movement of the oxen and the plow when writing. In the Middle Ages, the passion for puzzles takes on foot with an meaning of fun: the monks themselves fill in the Joca Monachorumanecdotes and riddles that prompent to guess on episodes of the Bible, but formulated in playful form.
Charades, rebus, code phrases: the Renaissance is full of these games, composed both to entertain and to conceal information. It is an excellent example of the very rich production of enigmas by Leonardo da Vinciwhich in his multifaceted career composes 171 rebussome of which can be read in this collection and others in this document, where it is noted that Leonardo loved to insert too Music in its games of logic and intelligence.
The anagram with which Galileo Galilei He communicated to Giuliano de ‘Medici that he had sighted Saturn satellites:
“SMAISMMUMILMEPOETATERUMEBUNUNGTAURIAS”
“Altissimum Planetam Tergeminum Oberuaui”
“I observed the most distant planet as made up of three parts”
However, the objective of the anagram was not resolving the game, but conceal informationhabit that Galileo also maintained in reference to his other discoveries.
When the puzzle arrives in Italy
The great evolution of the enigm was in the second half of the 1700swhen he began to be considered An opportunity for entertainment and the first books and magazines were printed. In France, in 1767, the first issue of the Magasin énigmatiquemagazine dedicated entirely to enigmistic. In Italy we have to wait instead 1816 and the followingwhy the magazines kick off The aguzza-ingenuity, Recreation And The riddle race.
It is in 1901 that in the Italian language The term enigmistic enters into all respects. The inventor is Demetrio Tolosani, a very passionate Tuscan antique dealer of the subject, whose code name is Bajardo, to publish a manual entitled “Enimmistic “ and to define this activity as “The art that deals, in any way, of the enimmatic games”.
For crusades, it will be necessary to wait almost for almost a century: it is the 1890 when on The illustrated century of Sunday The first comes out, simple crosswordbut it will only be in the 1920s that this game will enter the enigmistic magazines on a stable basis.
