Posted inClassical Archaeology

Letters from Roman Centurions Found in Ancient Berenike, Egypt: “I Send Them with Dromedarius, Take Care of Them”

Polish archaeologists found papyrus with letters from Roman centurions stationed in Egypt in Berenike. These unique documents were discovered along with, among other things, ceramics from Italy, Roman coins, and a specific cloak brooch in what might have been the remains of a centurion’s office. For Egyptologists and other scholars of Antiquity, this is an […]

Posted inAncient Rome

The Encryption System Used by Julius Caesar in his Letters to Hide their Content

Cryptography is nearly as old as human language. Many civilizations felt the need to conceal their messages using more or less sophisticated encryption methods, as demonstrated by some documentary examples that have survived in Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, India, Greece… It is precisely in Egypt where the first example of cryptography has been found. The hieroglyphics […]

Posted inFirst World War

“Willy-Nicky Correspondence”, the Exchange of Telegrams between the Tsar and the Kaiser on the Eve of World War I

In the year 1918, just after the end of World War I, American journalist, writer, and diplomat Herman Bernstein published a book titled The Willy–Nicky correspondence. It was an anthology of private telegrams exchanged between Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm over several years, on the eve of the conflict, attempting to soothe tensions. The […]