3 secret messages for you to decipher like Julius Caesar, the Spartans and the Freemasons did

Ciphers, codes and keys are an integral part of our lives.

When we communicate with our cell phones or buy something online, messages are transmitted in ways designed to prevent unauthorized people from understanding them.

Different encryption methods have existed throughout history. What has changed is that now we let the computers take care of encoding and decoding the information.

How about we go back to the times when existing technology required more human input?

Try to decipher these phrases from a clever writer (and don't worry: if you can't, we'll give you the keys).

Let's start with one in...

Caesar's cipher

Here is the phrase to decipher:

KZ QDZKHCZC EQDBTDMSDLDMSD DR HLOQDBHRZ

This method was named after the Roman military and political leader Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) who -according to the Roman historian and biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquilus- used it in military and official messages.

Caesar's cipher was a surefire way to keep secrets for a time, thanks to the fact that most of Rome's enemies were illiterate.

However, there are records that show that by the 9th century AD there were already methods to decode such communications using Ab? frequency analysis. Y?suf Ya´q?b ibn Is??q al-Kind?.

Al-Kindi, was born in Kufa and died in Baghdad -then part of the Abbasid Caliphate, today Iraq- around 801-873 AD and besides many other things, he was one of the fathers of cryptography.

His book "Manuscript on Decrypting Cryptographic Messages" gave rise to the birth of cryptanalysis and included several new methods for breaking codes.

Regarding the Caesar cipher -also known as shift cipher, Caesar code or Caesar shift- it is a simple substitution cipher.

What is done is to replace all the letters by others of the alphabet, which are in a fixed number of positions ahead or behind: what you need to find out then is how many positions and in what direction.

Julius Caesar, Suetonius says, used to shift three spaces to the right.

"If he had to say something confidential, he wrote it using encryption, that is, changing the order of the letters of the alphabet, so that no word could be understood. If someone wanted to decrypt it, and understand its meaning, they had to substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet , that is, the D for the A, and so on with the others," he says in "The Life of the Caesars."

For the phrase we encrypted, the key is simpler: 1 position to the right.

How to Peel Tomatoes #canning #DIY #stetted #Summer #Tomatoes https://t.co/gzsnUs0jGN https://t.co/Me6fB73Kbp

— yumgoggle Sun Jul 23 18:23:03 +0000 2017

So instead of writing A we write B; instead of B, C; instead of C, D, etc.

And our phrase was: KZ QDZKHCZC EQDBTDMSDLDMSD DR HLOQDBHRZ

Have you figured it out yet?

Here's the next one, with...

The cryptographic technique of the Spartans

In this case, what you would receive is a ribbon with these letters written across it:

MGSEPNUDNAUEOPRRTCOORENAOEEAIQSESIRNSGAEUÉSTEEDAUDNELPA

Complicated? Okay, although insiders describe this cipher as "elementary".

It appeared in Ancient Greece, was created by the ephors of Sparta and, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, is the first recorded cryptography.

In the year 400 BC, military commanders used an encryption device called a scythia, which consisted of a conical rod with a certain number of faces.

That rod was wrapped in a strip of parchment or leather on which the message was written.

When unwrapping it, the letters were in another order and the message, encrypted.

The recipient had to have a cane of identical proportions to the original so that when he wrapped the strip around himself, the text reappeared.

Since we don't have a scythe to decode our message, we'll have to use another method, which isn't as pretty but it works: a table.

In this case, we imagine that our stick had 10 faces and that we wound the ribbon 5 times. Thus, below you will see a table with those measurements that acts as the twin rod that the recipient would have.

Let's remember the message:

MGSEPNUDNAUEOPRRTCOORENAOEEAIQSESIRNSGAEUÉSTEEDAUDNELPA

As you will see, the letters that we gave you are those that appear from top to bottom in the table, as they would be seen in the unwrapped strip; but if you view them from left to right, as they would look when you roll up the tape, you will be able to reveal the message.

The only thing you have to add is spaces between the words.

If you want to experiment with this system but want something more like a scythe, you can use a pencil and a strip of paper.

Ready for the last one?

freemason cipher

It is not known when it appeared, but it is believed that before 1531.

It is a written code that uses a variety of symbols made of spatial constructions to represent letters of an alphabet, unlike other traditional codes that replace one alphabetic letter with another.

It is also known as the Rosicrucian cipher, as it is attributed to an esoteric religious group or secret society in medieval Germany, and as the Masonic method, due to its use by secret groups that supposedly shield their practices from public scrutiny.

The truth is that it was used by Freemasons in many aspects of their lives; nowadays you can see tombstones with encrypted messages, like this one, specially made for you to try to solve it:

Long and difficult? The last thing we would do is underestimate your capabilities. But you need the tools, so here's how it works:

The encryption process is quite simple; each occurrence of a letter is replaced with the designated symbol.

Symbols are assigned to letters using the key below.

The letter is replaced by the part of the image in which it is located. Thus, in the examples below, from right to left, the first symbol represents A; the second, the T; the third, the M and the fourth, the W.

Of course, the key was not always the same: sometimes they moved the letters around or used only crosses, etc.

But this is the one we use to encrypt the phrase for you.

Do you dare to decipher it... or do you prefer to read it below?

The author and the phrases (in case you didn't decipher them)

1. Reality is often imprecise
2. I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.
3. Someone who is able to get elected president should not be allowed to be president under any circumstances.

They are all phrases by the writer and radio scriptwriter and galactic historian Cntfzr Zczr (we were not going to make it that easy for you! It is in Caesar cipher, 1 position to the right).