Julius Caesar, like many other rulers throughout history, was a firm believer in the power and secrecy of cryptology. Caesar was an advocate of different ciphers in order to hide his messages. One cipher that he used the most came to be known at the "Caesar Cipher." This cipher was a simple substitution. Caesar took a regular alphabet and shifted his cipher alphabet 3 letters down. In the Casesar cipher, an A would be written down as a D, a B would be E, and so on. Caesar used this cipher to communicate with his generals. For many years this cipher was not broken, which I find very surprising because compared to other ciphers, this one seems like one of the easiest ones to decipher. If you want to check out more Caesar cipher info or create your own cipher, go to
http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/caesar.html
I am equally surprised as you that this cipher was not broken for many years. It is amazing how far we have come, not only in technology but in the skills we use to make and break codes and ciphers. Consider the Enigma Cipher which was used by the Germans in the first World War. It is hard to follow even the explanation of how the device works, let alone how to decrypt it. I wonder how far technology will take us in the future of cryptology and cryptanalysis.
ReplyDeleteMaybe at this time, there was not as much knowledge or research on the idea of cryptography so others simply did not know what to do with the jumbled message. As time went on, of course people began to understand the nature of these messages and began to decode them, as with any new cipher. Many thought the use of the Vigenere Square with a code word was unbreakable, until cryptanaylsis began to find ways around them.
ReplyDeleteIt is an entertaining thought that such a simple code was not cracked for so long, especially because in the world today that is one of the simplest codes. However, I agree that at that time it could have been complicated enough that it was secretive. Adam, I am so glad you posted that site because it did provide more clarity of the Caesar Cipher.
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