Polygraphia (book)
 Copy of Polygraphia . | |
| Author | Johannes Trithemius |
|---|---|
| Original title | Polygraphia |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | Latin |
| Genre | Cryptographic, steganography |
Publication date | 1518 |
Published in English | N/A |
| Media type | Printed book |
| Preceded by | Steganography |
Polygraphia is a Cryptographic work written by Johannes Trithemius published in 1518 dedicated to the art of Steganography.[1]
Review
It is composed of five books, the work consists of five books and a collarbone
- Book I, contains no less than 376 alphabets (called "minutiae" by the author) of 24 letters (or "degrees"): each letter corresponds to a Latin word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) being in total 9,024 different words.
- Book II, presents 1,176 alphabets in three columns which are 3,528 dictions of a "universal language" where each letter is equivalent to an invented word (for example "a" could be farax, basacha, damalo, salec, etc..) but capable of expressing numbers (from 1 to 10 would be Abram, Abrem, Abrim, Abrom, abrum, abral, abrel, abril, abrol and abrul).
- Book III shows 132 invented alphabet dictions, from which one must remove the second letter of each word to write coded messages.
- Book IV reproduces two canonical hash tables, one direc with 80 alphabets and the other inverted with 98 alphabets, allowing infinite permutations, to which twelve "planispheric wheels" each comprising six categories of 24 numbers combined with the 24 letters and thus allowing elaborate a big amount of ciphered messages .
- Book V is a collection of ancient alphabets, Ethiopian, Normands, Magical and Alchemical
The work ends with alphabets of his invention as the "tetragramaticus" formed by 4 characters that are diversified in 24 letters and the "enagramaticus" of 9 characters and 28 letters, from which he gives examples of writings that belongs to something it resembles a natural language.
Relationship with steganography
According to some scholars, both books, Steganographia and Polygraphia are but a single work presented in two parts: the first is metaphysical and quite theoretical (arriving to hide a full treaty "angelology," or study of angels with their names and hierarchies, between its pages), the second is more practical and is used for encoding messages.
See also
References
- ↑ Johannes Trithemius (1608). Iohannis Trithemii Steganographia: h.e. ars per occultam scripturam animi sui voluntatem absentibus aperiendi certa. pp. 1–.
Bibliography
- Steganographia (Latin). Digital Edition, 1997
- Steganographia (Latin). Google Books, 1608 edition
- Steganographia (Latin). Google Books, 1621 edition
- Solved: The Ciphers in Book iii of Trithemius's Steganographia, PDF, 208 kB
- Hill Monastic Manuscript Library article on Trithemius (includes links to photographs of various Trithemius first editions.)
- (Italian)The complete and solved Steganography books
- Polygraphiae libri sex Ioannis Trithemij George Fabyan Collection at the Library of Congress
- Steganographia qvæ hvcvsqve a nemine intellecta George Fabyan Collection at the Library of Congress
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cryptography. |
- Works by or about Johannes Trithemius at Internet Archive
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Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "John Trithemius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. - Trithemius Redivivus Translations and resources pertaining to the Steganographia of Johannes Trithemius