BCE
- 36th century - The Sumerians develop cuneiform writing and the Egyptians develop hieroglyphic writing.
- 16th century - The Phoenicians develop an alphabet
- 600-500 - Hebrew scholars make use of simple monoalphabetic substitution ciphers (such as the Atbash cipher)
- c. 400 - Spartan use of scytale (alleged)
- c. 400 - Herodotus reports use of steganography in reports to Greece from Persia (tattoo on shaved head)
- 100-1 CE - Notable Roman ciphers such as the Caesar cipher.
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Cryptography