List of ciphertexts

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Shugborough inscription in England

Some famous ciphertexts (or cryptograms), in chronological order by date, are:

Year of origin Ciphertext Decipherment status
2nd millennium BC Phaistos Disc Unsolved
179-180 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 90 Unsolved
1400s (15th century) Voynich Manuscript Unsolved
1500s (16th century) (?) Rohonc Codex Unsolved
1586 Babington Plot ciphers Solved
1730 Olivier Levasseur's treasure cryptogram Unsolved
1748–1756 Shugborough inscription Unsolved
1760–1780 Copiale cipher Solved in 2011
1843 "The Gold-Bug" cryptogram by Edgar Allan Poe Solved (solution given within the short story)
1885 Beale ciphers Partially solved (1 out of the 3 ciphertexts solved between 1845–1885)
1897 Dorabella Cipher Unsolved
1903 "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" code by Arthur Conan Doyle Solved (solution given within the short story)
1917 Zimmermann Telegram Solved within days of transmission
1918 Chaocipher Solved
1918–1945 Enigma machine messages Solved (broken by Polish and Allied cryptographers between 1932 and 1945)
1939 D'Agapeyeff cipher Unsolved
1939–1945 Purple cipher machine messages Solved (broken by Allied cryptographers in 1940)
1941 Lorenz SZ42 machine cipher messages Solved (broken by Allied cryptographers in 1942)
1944 Pigeon NURP 40 TW 194 Unsolved
1948 Tamam Shud case Unsolved
1950(?) James Hampton Unsolved
1969 Zodiac Killer ciphers Partially solved (2 out of the 4 ciphertexts solved between 1969–2020)
1977 The Magic Words are Squeamish Ossifrage Solved in 1993–1994
1990 Kryptos Partially solved (3 out of the 4 ciphertexts solved between 1992–1999)
1999 Ricky McCormick's encrypted notes Unsolved
2006 Smithy code, embedded within the 2006 judgment on The Da Vinci Code case Solved within month of publication
2012–2016 Cicada 3301 puzzles Partially solved (2 out of 3 puzzles solved)
2015 11B-X-1371 Solved

See also[edit]

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