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Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #40 on: November 18, 2006, 01:09:50 PM »
It's possible, I look forward to seeing what you decide to post about the matter. :)

kleigh2

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Bible Ciphers
« Reply #41 on: March 12, 2007, 11:41:49 AM »
The Revelation to John is indeed an unusual critter because it is written mostly in code.  The early Christians were fearful that their letters and other writings would be captured by the Romans, leading to many deaths, so works such as this one were written in code.  An example is the word "Babylon" -- this is the code word for "Rome."  Like much Jewish literature of the time, it also makes use of gematria/numerology, and you must understand that code, too, to decipher the meaning of the messages.  In the Gospels, take a look at the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves in Matthew 14 and 15 (also Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6).  In the first, there are five loaves and two fish, in the second version, there are seven loaves and a few fish; also, there are 12 baskets of leftover in the first and 7 in the second.  In the first story Jesus feeds 5,000 people and in the second version 4,000 people.  One interpretation I have read is that the seven loaves represents the traditional number of gentile nations while 12 represents the number of Jewish tribes.  In one story, the gentiles must become Jewish to become Christian, while in the other story, the meaning is that the gentiles will become Christian yet remain gentiles.  In John 21:11, Peter, at the behest of Jesus, pulls in 153 large fish.  There has been much speculation about the meaning of this number.  Jerome claims that the Greeks catalogued 153 different species of fish, so the catch is meant to symbolize all the nations of the world.  Or 153 is the sum of numbers from 1 to 17.

Hi Everyone --

I am new to this forum -- found it listed as Ancient Cryptography SIG in the March 2007 M-Bulletin and had to take a look.  I haven't explored the site yet -- this welcome thread is my first stop, but the idea of "Bible Cyphers" is one I find fascinating!!!  Is there a seperate thread for discussion of this topic?   :o  If so, lead me to it.  I am extremely curious about any and all ciphers (in a passive rather than active way) and would very much like to see more on this particular topic.

I particulatly enjoy ancient and historical (rather than modern) cryptography, and am more interested in philosophical, scientific, and religious rather than military ciphers.  Happy to see spirited discussions by avid intellects!

Regards,  :D  kleigh2


<a>GeoCaching: the cipher & puzzle-solving-game you can play all over the earth.  Some easy, some hard, all fun![/url]

Stun90

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2007, 06:24:42 PM »
Hi kleigh and welcome. I am sure that you will get a response from Aaron. A great guy. He knows this forum better than anyone.
"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
- Albert Einstein

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2007, 07:16:01 PM »
Kleigh2,

Welcome to the forums! ciphers in bibles and other religious texts are plentiful indeed, so I decided to make a section on the forum related to it. I believe one of our other members is equally interested in the subject. ;)

beylerbeyi

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #44 on: March 18, 2007, 11:15:12 PM »
Hi Everyone,
I seen this SIG in the Mensa Bulletin and wanted to check.
1. Assume I don't know a single thing about cryptography
2. What is the good point to start (web Page, book etc.)
3. Is there a better method to learn (proven)
Thanks in advance for all

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #45 on: March 19, 2007, 12:04:18 AM »
The basic concept of cryptography is really rather simple... there are various different classes of cryptography with the easy ones being substitution based and harder ones being based on a prearranged code that translates the data... even harder ciphers might use patterns found in nature or mathematics such as prime numbers or the digits of pi. There are many specialized ciphers that use a series of techniques to truly mix up the data (such as combining substitution ciphers with prime number replacement). There are also ciphers that depend partially on the medium they are written on, such as the pinhole cipher in which the encrypter leaves a tiny pinhole above each letter of the actual message using an innocent medium like a newspaper.

http://www.antilles.k12.vi.us/math/cryptotut/encarta_intro.htm is a good summary of various aspects of cryptography, and there are many books on the subject at your local library; quite a few have examples that walk you through the process. I would highly recommend looking in the younger sections (J or YP) as they are more likely to be easier to learn from, often with great pictures and the history behind different ciphers.

And once you understand how to decode ciphers that exist, you can start making your own! ;)

Loz

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #46 on: October 11, 2007, 11:39:58 AM »
Hi All,

I just arrived here. Thought I'd mention this site as it seem interesting:

http://starbase.trincoll.edu/~crypto/

Also this page on the site about Simon Singh's book "The Code Book", on Cryptograms is good, though it's better to read the book!

http://www.simonsingh.net/Cryptograms.html

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #47 on: October 11, 2007, 08:03:41 PM »
Thanks for joining! :D I like the Cryptogram of the Week in that first link you posted.

catcherintherye

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #48 on: March 16, 2008, 04:59:06 PM »
I'm new to this SIG (as well as Mensa) but very much look forward to exploring these posts. I've read a little bit of this site, and look forward to taking a stab at some of the "unsolved" cryptograms.

I'm off to read some more, but hopefully will be able to add whatever I can to the discussions.

Thanks!

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #49 on: March 16, 2008, 05:53:41 PM »
Good luck! :D All approaches are welcome. ;)

tonybaloney

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #50 on: June 01, 2008, 11:40:03 AM »
Hi everyone,
Glad I found this site - looking forward to sharing some old ciphers with you.
Tony

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #51 on: June 02, 2008, 08:32:22 AM »
Thanks for your contributions! :)

tycho

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #52 on: June 02, 2008, 10:13:59 AM »
Hi all, my name is Antonino Chirco.
I am an international members.
Happy to share knowledge with you.

Kind regards from Italy.


Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #53 on: June 02, 2008, 11:54:30 AM »
Enjoy your stay, Antonino! :)

tonybaloney

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #54 on: June 02, 2008, 02:43:17 PM »
Hi Antonio,

A while ago I came across a cipher (dated 1590) – 2 sheets, one of which is the other written backwards apart from the last line – it contains about 130 ‘words’ only about 20 to 25 appear to be Italian when applying a caesar shift of minus 1 – I tried to translate it with a dictionary but didn’t get very far – if you, or anybody is fluent in Italian and would like to have a look at it & see if they can sort it out I’ll email it as it’s a bit to big to post here. Just email me and put subject '1590' and I'll send you a copy as an attachment.

Tony

Eloise

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #55 on: June 14, 2008, 11:15:21 PM »
I am a graduate student in classical philology (I am a Latinist, to be exact). I do greatly enjoy puzzles and I have a growing interest in elementary cryptology.

Cheers!

Aaron

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #56 on: June 15, 2008, 12:02:47 AM »
Welcome aboard, Eloise! :)

tonybaloney

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #57 on: June 15, 2008, 09:44:06 AM »
Hi Eloise,

A 13th century colophon for you using a very elementary cipher -




I've always wondered what it says - hope you can tell me?!

Tony

tonybaloney

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #58 on: June 16, 2008, 07:18:15 AM »
Perhaps I should have given it in modern characters -

Pfnnb prfcpr skstf qxpnkbm lkbfr explkckt kstf

Eloise

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Re: Welcome!
« Reply #59 on: June 17, 2008, 12:13:43 PM »
I am not quite certain of that transliteration of yours. Are you sure it is correct?

Simple letter substitution, right?

 


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