A ‘Rusty’ Ribbon and a Cipher … Scytale

I love ciphers, and the Scytale cipher is one of the oldest around. In ancient times, ciphers were often used in love and war, and where two people could pass a secret message without others knowing its contents. Mary Queen of Scots, for example, used a number of ciphers to communicate with her trusted entities:

But one of the oldest ciphers is the Scytale cipher. It was used by the Greeks…