The Spartan Scytale and Developments in Ancient and Modern Cryptography

Dr Martine Diepenbroek (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

264 Seiten

2025
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-28131-8 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Mai 2025)
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This book offers a comprehensive review and reassessment of the classical sources describing the cryptographic Spartan device known as the scytale. Challenging the view promoted by modern historians of cryptography which look at the scytale as a simple and impractical ‘stick’, Diepenbroek argues for the scytale’s deserved status as a vehicle for secret communication in the ancient world. By way of comparison, Diepenbroek demonstrates that the cryptographic principles employed in the Spartan scytale show an encryption and coding system that is no less complex than some 20th-century transposition ciphers. The result is that, contrary to the accepted point of view, scytale encryption is as complex and secure as other known ancient ciphers.

Drawing on salient comparisons with a selection of modern transposition ciphers (and their historical predecessors), the reader is provided with a detailed overview and analysis of the surviving classical sources that similarly reveal the potential of the scytale as an actual cryptographic and steganographic tool in ancient Sparta in order to illustrate the relative sophistication of the Spartan scytale as a practical device for secret communication. This helps to establish the conceptual basis that the scytale would, in theory, have offered its ancient users a secure method for secret communication over long distances.

Martine Diepenbroek is a Dutch Classicist and Ancient Historian who finished her PhD on the topic of Ancient Cryptography at the University of Bristol, UK, in 2021. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, she is currently working on a number of publications based on her doctoral research.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on texts and translations

Introduction
Chapter 1: Structure of ancient Greek armies and military communication
Chapter 2: Sparta and secrecy in non-Spartan sources
Chapter 3: The scytale
Chapter 4: Cryptography and steganography in Aeneas Tacticus’ How to Survive Under Siege
Chapter 5: Roman views towards the Spartan scytale
Chapter 6: The development of the principle of the transposition cipher system of the scytale in ciphers from the Renaissance to the 21st century
Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Appendices

Erscheinungsdatum	15.12.2023
Zusatzinfo	31 bw illus
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	1-350-28131-X / 135028131X
ISBN-13	978-1-350-28131-8 / 9781350281318
Zustand	Neuware