Re: Earliest published ambigram?

Rainer Rosenthal wrote:
> Hud Nordin wrote:
>
> > (For those with a hunger, hundreds of my ambigrams are here:
> > <http://www.01101001.com/ambigrams>.)
>
> Somebody seems to have answered by mail - thanks so much.
> But ... unfortunately this mail had been considered spam
> by my provider and I was too quick, when I cleared that
> folder. I recognized the word ambigram in the subject
> line ... and it was gone. May I ask the sender to send me
> his or mail again, please?
>
> Well, here is my little story about ambigrams (a term I never
> heard of before) and their relationship to advertising:
> When I was in a larger city some months ago (Zurich) I left
> the bus and looked into the interesting new world around me.
> Everything was new to me and I was absorbed by all the new
> things I saw. And as I was standing in the middle of a road,
> I had to watch for the traffic light etc. The bus drove
> away and above all my new impressions I received a new one:
> At the window of the bus there had been an advertisement of
> some tourist organization and there was written in large
> green letters
>
>                   A T J A M
>
> While strolling thru the streets of Zurich I always wondered
> about that marvellous "Atjam", an island or country I never
> had heard of before. It took me quite a while until suddenly
> I *knew* that in fact it was an island! But written in that
> funny "ambigrammar". (I did post that riddle shortly after-
> wards in de.rec.denksport - and I did receive the solution
> immediatly, which was astonishing for me).
>
> Wishing all the best for 2006 up to 9005 ;-)
> Rainer Rosenthal
> r.r...@web.de

That's a good one!

I've never been there, but somehow I feel absolutely certain that the
first ambigram was published in 842 BC by a Phoenician falcon-meister
near Mellieha Bay.