3-Week SASA Reading Group: Secret Carvings: Creating Secret Messages With Ancient Scripts

Previous participation and previous knowledge not required.

When thinking of communication security, you probably think of banks, computer systems, and secret services like the FBI and CIA. Yet, communication security is as old as the hills! The Greeks, Romans and Near Eastern people knew dozens of ways to hide confidential communication from their enemies. This is known as cryptography and steganography. In Homer's Iliad we find the oldest known secret message from Greco-Roman history. This is a message containing instructions to kill someone! The mythical hero Bellerophon was sent from King Proetus of Argos to King Iobates of Lycia carrying a tablet which contained instructions to kill Bellerophon. So, in a way Bellerophon was carrying his own death sentence without knowing. There is discussion in scholarship about what exactly Proetus wrote to Iobates and in which language/signs. Can we solve the mystery of what Proetus sent to Iobates and why? And can we find out why Bellerophon was carrying his own death sentence?

3-Week Text-In-Translation Reading Group

Saturdays at 11 AM Eastern Time

Start date: January 7th 

End date: January 21st

MUST RSVP TO GET THE ZOOM LINK. The same link will be used for all 3 sessions.