1998/10/01 by Jim Reeds · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Mathematics · #Linguistics and language evolution #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Renaissance Literature and Culture #Cipher #Cryptography #MAGIC (telescope) #Computer science #Cryptanalysis #Arithmetic #Mathematics #Encryption #Computer security #Physics
paper · doi:10.1080/0161-119891886948
openalex publication_date 1998/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Book III of Trithemius's Steganographia (written ca. 1500) contains hidden cipher messages within what is ostensibly a work on magic. After almost 500 years these cryptograms have been detected and solved. (Since 1606 it was known that similar ciphers were present in Books I and II.) As a result the Steganographia can no longer be regarded as one of the main early modern demonological treatises but instead stands unambiguously revealed as the first book-length treatment of cryptography in Europe.