Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Mycenaean Pottery

The pottery of the Mycenaean civilization (1550-1050 BCE), although heavily influenced by the earlier Minoans based on Crete, nevertheless, added new pottery shapes to the existing range and achieved its own distinctive decorative style which was strikingly homogenous across Mycenaean Greece. Mycenaean wares typically display stylized representations of marine and plant life and show a fondness for minimalistic linear designs, a trend which would go on to influence the early pottery of Archaic and Classical Greece from the 9th century BCE.  
Mycenaean pottery

Greek bronze statues


The Copper Statue "Henioxos" from Delphi, Greece

The Copper Statue "Henioxos" from Delphi, Greece 



7 Greek bronze statues


Saturday, May 20, 2017

Ancient crypto stick

In cryptography, a scytale (rhymes approximately with Italy; also transliterated skytale, Greek σκυτάλη "baton") is a tool used to perform a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which is written a message. The ancient Greeks, and the Spartans in particular, are said to have used this cipher to communicate during military campaigns.
The recipient uses a rod of the same diameter on which the parchment is wrapped to read the message. It has the advantage of being fast and not prone to mistakes—a necessary property when on the battlefield. It can, however, be easily broken. Since the strip of parchment hints strongly at the method, the cipher text would have to be transferred to something less suggestive, somewhat reducing the advantage noted. 
Skytale