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.
Monday, May 22, 2017
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
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