Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
alliance, inside the body of a slain rabbit. Then he had his messenger dress as
a hunter and sent him to deliver the missive in the unskinned hare, to Cyrus.
The hidden message was well received by Cyrus who immediately agreed to join
Harpagus as an ally. Together they deposed Astyages. Under Cyrus, Harpagus
was a potent military force, helping, among other feats, to conquer Asia Mi-
nor. An example of one of his escapades is the following. Harpagus besieged
Xanthus, the main city of Lycia, in 540BC, killing the Lycians to the last man.
Herodotus tells another tale related to our discussions thus far. The ancient
Greek city,
Miletus
, of western Anatolia (30kilometers (20miles) south of the
modern-day Turkish city of
Soke
), came under Persian rule of king Darius I
in the latter part of the sixth century BC, as did the other Greek cities of
Anatolia. However, in 499 BC the tyrant, Histiaeus, led a revolt against Persia.
This revolt marked the beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. One anecdote
from this period comes from Herodotus.
Histiaeus served Darius by ensuring that tyrants of other cities would not
destroy the Danubian bridge over which the Persians were to return from the
Scythian campaign (circa 513 BC). For this Darius rewarded Histiaeus with
Thracian territory. However, for good reason as it turned out, Darius became
suspicious of Histiaeus and recalled him to the Persian court at Susa. There
he became a prisoner, in effect, if not in fact. Darius installed Histiaeus' son-
in-law Aristagoras as the new ruler of Miletus. Ostensibly, Histiaeus tattooed
a message on the shaven scalp of a trusted slave, kept him hidden until a new
head of hair grew back, then sent him off to his son-in-law with the message
to revolt against Persia. This marks the end of the steganographic part of the
story, but it is worth recalling what happened to Histiaeus.
Histiaeus tried to convince Darius that he could stop the revolt. Ultimately
he was successful and was allowed to leave Susa. However, when he returned to
the Lydian coast, the
satrap
or
provincial governor
, Artaphernes, was suspicious
of him, so he was driven out. Histiaeus became a pirate at Byzantium, and
after numerous unsuccessful forays to reestablish himself, he was captured. He
suffered the ignominious fate of being crucified at Sardis (capital of ancient
Lydia, near present Izmir, Turkey) by Artapherenes.
One last story from Herodotus, perhaps the most important from an histor-
ical viewpoint, should suGce before we turn our attention to another classical
instance of the use of cryptography. Again, it involves steganography. It follows
the death, in 486 BC, of Darius I, succeeded by his son, who came to be known
as Xerxes the Great (circa 519-465 BC), best known for his massive invasion of
Greece.
Herodotus tells us about Demaratus, former king of Sparta, who was de-
throned by Cleomenes I, on erroneous charges of illegitimacy, after which he
fled to Persia. After the death of Cleomenes, Leonidas became king of Sparta.
While in exile, Demaratus learned of Xerxes plans for invasion, and felt obliged
to warn Sparta. To do this, he scraped the wax off a pair of wooden folding
tablets, wrote on the wood that was thereby revealed, warning of the impending
invasion. Then he recovered the wood with wax, sealing the message, giving the
appearance of a blank folding tablet that would pass scrutiny, a fine stegano-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search