Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A scytale is a tool used to make a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a strip of paper wound around it. The recipient has a rod of the same diameter, on which he wraps the paper to read the message. The ancient Greeks, particularly, the Spartans, are said to have used this cypher to communicate during campaigns. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.