Ciphers of Civilization: Codes, Secret Messages, and Secret Signs in Human History
14.99 €
11.99 €
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Ciphers of Civilization: Codes, Secret Messages, and Secret Signs in Human History
14.99 €
11.99 €
Since ancient times, man has tried to invent ciphers that cannot be broken. Hidden lovers' liaisons, secret societies and church orders, spies, diplomats and military men are only a small fraction of those who have sought to preserve their secrets at all costs.
The Catholic priests who accompanied the conquistadors were determined to destroy the variety of written texts they found in the towns of the natives. They did so, apparently, because they felt it was their duty to eradicate paganism from the colonies. This is a heinous crime against history. Then representatives of other European powers will understand with horror what the Spaniards have done, but it will be too late: only a few texts were saved from the "righteous" fire, which were immediately transported to Europe to preserve the heritage of the destroyed civilization. But scientists were stumped by the Mayan glyphs, which turned into a cipher, the key to which was lost with the death of the last carrier of the language. Moving between eras, historian and author Sinclair Mackay tells of the most famous ciphers and deciphers, cunning spies and counterintelligence agents, poets and scientists who included cipher writing in their works, and, of course, codes of all kinds.
The Catholic priests who accompanied the conquistadors were determined to destroy the variety of written texts they found in the towns of the natives. They did so, apparently, because they felt it was their duty to eradicate paganism from the colonies. This is a heinous crime against history. Then representatives of other European powers will understand with horror what the Spaniards have done, but it will be too late: only a few texts were saved from the "righteous" fire, which were immediately transported to Europe to preserve the heritage of the destroyed civilization. But scientists were stumped by the Mayan glyphs, which turned into a cipher, the key to which was lost with the death of the last carrier of the language. Moving between eras, historian and author Sinclair Mackay tells of the most famous ciphers and deciphers, cunning spies and counterintelligence agents, poets and scientists who included cipher writing in their works, and, of course, codes of all kinds.
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