![]() After doing this, they write what they wish on the parchment, just as it lies wrapped about the scytale and when they have written their message, they take the parchment off and send it, without the piece of wood, to the commander. Whenever, then, they wish to send some secret and important message, they make a scroll of parchment long and narrow, like a leathern strap, and wind it round their scytale, leaving no vacant space thereon, but covering its surface all round with the parchment. When the ephors send out an admiral or a general, they make two round pieces of wood exactly alike in length and thickness, so that each corresponds to the other in its dimensions, and keep one themselves, while they give the other to their envoy. The dispatch-scroll is of the following character. ![]() A description of how it operated is not known from before Plutarch (50–120 AD): Other Greek and Roman writers during the following centuries also mentioned it, but it was not until Apollonius of Rhodes (middle of the 3rd century BC) that a clear indication of its use as a cryptographic device appeared. The ciphertext is: "Iryyatbhmvaehedlurlp"Įvery fifth letter will appear on the same line, so the plaintext (after re-insertion of spaces) becomes: "I am hurt very badly help".įrom indirect evidence, the scytale was first mentioned by the Greek poet Archilochus, who lived in the 7th century BC. To decrypt, all one must do is wrap the leather strip around the rod and read across. So the ciphertext becomes, "Iryyatbhmvaehedlurlp" after unwinding. ![]() To encrypt, one simply writes across the leather: The plaintext could be: "I am hurt very badly help". Suppose the rod allows one to write four letters around in a circle and five letters down the side of it.
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