From the Riddles of Ancient Egypt to Cryptography in the Renaissance — 3500 Years in the Making

Imagine an inscription created some 3600 years ago that nobody, to this day, has been able to decode! It exists and is carved on a clay disk, called the Phaistos (pronounced feye-stos) disk, roughly 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) in diameter, unearthed from the (old) palace of Phaistos, one of the most important locations of Minoan culture on the island of Crete, now part of Greece.