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I, Claudius and the cipher extraordinary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Christopher Hollings
Christopher Hollings*
Affiliation:
The Queen's College, Oxford OX1 4AW, e-mail: christopher.hollings@maths.ox.ac.uk
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Extract

In the midst of reading Robert Graves' I, Claudius [1], I was surprised to encounter a description of an interesting cipher used by the fictional Augustus. I therefore thought it would be worthwhile to write a short article to draw attention to what is perhaps not a particularly well-known cipher appearing in fiction. I will assume that the reader is familiar with the principle behind the famous Vigenère cipher (see [2] or [3]).

In the novel, Claudius, as narrator, relates how, upon Augustus' death, he is succeeded somewhat reluctantly by his stepson Tiberius, due to the machinations of Livia, who was Augustus' widow and Tiberius' mother. As her son's imperial reign begins, it is clear that Livia intends to hold on to the influence that she wielded during her husband's.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 96 , Issue 537 , November 2012 , pp. 466 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2012

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References

1. Graves, Robert, I, Claudius, Penguin, new edition (1953).Google Scholar
2. Singh, Simon, The Code Book, Random House (1999).Google Scholar
3. Lewand, Robert Edward, The perfect cipher, Math. Gaz. 97 (November 2010) pp. 401–411.Google Scholar
4. Sampson, Geoffrey, Writing systems: a linguistic introduction, Stanford University Press (1990).Google Scholar
5. Tranquillus, Gaius Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, translated by Edwards, Catharine, Oxford University Press (2000).Google Scholar
6. Leighton, Albert C., Secret communication among the Greeks and Romans, Technology and Culture 10 (2) (1969) pp. 139–154.Google Scholar
7. Homer, , The Iliad, translated by Johnston, Ian C., Richer Resources Publications (2006).Google Scholar
8. Gellius, Aulus, Attic Nights, translated by Rolfe, John C., Loeb (1927).Google Scholar