“This kind of work, particularly in the early stages of a difficult cryptanalysis, is perhaps the most excruciating, exasperating, agonizing mental process… — David Kahn Copy Share Image
“the use of atbash in the Bible sensitized the monks and scribes of the Middle Ages to the idea of letter substitution.… — David Kahn Bible Copy Share Image
“Much of the history of cryptology of this time is a patchwork, a crazy quilt of unrelated items, sprouting, flourishing, withering. Only… — David Kahn History Copy Share Image
“the conviction in the minds of many people that cryptology is a black art, a form of occultism whose practitioner must, in… — David Kahn Art Copy Share Image
“The technique was at least moderately well known, for Ibn Khaldūn wrote in The Muqaddimah: “Occasionally, skillful secretaries, though not the first… — David Kahn Programming Copy Share Image
“The only writer of the Middle Ages to describe cryptography instead of just using it was Roger Bacon, the English monk of… — David Kahn Art Copy Share Image
“Cryptology was born among the Arabs. They were the first to discover and write down the methods of cryptanalysis. The people that… — David Kahn Copy Share Image
“The association of magic and cryptology was reinforced by other factors. Mysterious symbols were used in such esoteric fields as astrology and… — David Kahn Esoteric Copy Share Image