The first recorded uses of steganography can be traced back to 440 BC in Greece, when Herodotus mentions two examples in his Histories.

When was steganography first used?

Dating back to the 5th century BC, steganography is one of the oldest methods of concealing secret information. According to the classical author Herodotus, it was first used by the tyrant Histiaeus, who shaved the head of a servant before tattooing a message on the poor man's scalp.

What is the history of steganography?

The origins

Traces of steganography already existed in ancient Greece, when Herodotus narrated two examples in his Stories, but the first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by Johannes Trithemius in his Steganographia, a treatise on cryptography and steganography, disguised as a book about magic.