The Spartan Scytale and Developments in Ancient and Modern Cryptography

Book excerpt: "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 which see the scytale as a simple 'stick'. Diepenbroek argues for its 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"--