Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
Diagram 1.1 A Generic Cryptosystem
(I): Encryption
Keysource
Ciphertext:
k
(
p
)=
c
k
“locks”
p
k
Encipher
−−−−−−−−−→
k
(
p
)
Plaintext:
p
(II): Decryption
Keysource
d
Plaintext:
d
(
c
)=
p
d
“unlocks”
c
Decipher
−−−−−−−−−→
d
(
c
)
Ciphertext:
c
Anglo-Saxon Britain and Scandinavia
Thus far, we have concentrated on the great civilizations of antiquity in
Rome, Greece, and Asia. However to the north, in Anglo-Saxon Britain and
Scandinavia, cryptographic finds were of high importance as well. We will now
look at one of them of note.
In the Rok churchyard in Ostergotland, Sweden
(dating from the beginning of the Viking era), a ninth-
century, thirteen-foot-high slab of granite was dis-
covered. It is known, therefore, as the Rok stone,
which has 725 legible texts from the runic language.
(See image on the right; courtesy of site owner at
http://www.deathstar.ch/security/encryption/
.)
The
runic alphabet
was used by Germanic people
of Britain, northern Europe, Iceland, and Scandinavia
from approximately the third to the seventeenth cen-
tury AD. Although experts are uncertain, it is most
probable that runic was developed by the Goths (a
Germanic people) from the
Etruscanalphabet
of north-
ern Italy. The inscriptions on the Rok stone are of
secret formulas and epic tales. The wealth of letters
makes it a treasure chest for the cryptologist.
The Rok stone (see Figure 1.5) is perhaps the best known of the Teutonic
runes and Celtic
oghams
(pronounced
oy-hams
). This writing dates somewhere
from the first to the fourth century AD, used for (mostly) the Irish language
Figure 1.5: Rok stone.
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