Editing Code name (section)

== Origins ==

=== Achaemenid Empire ===
The [[Achaemenid Empire]] under [[Darius the Great|Darius I]] employed a network of spies called the King’s Eye or the King’s Ear.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1, chapter 1, section 0 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2010-01-09 |title=The Eyes and Ears of the King |url=https://garycorby.com/blog//2010/01/eyes-and-ears-of-king.html |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=A dead man fell from the sky... |language=en-US}}</ref> These agents operated under anonymity, and “King’s Eye” was not a specific person but rather a code name for the intelligence network that reported directly to the king.<ref name=":0" />

=== Punic Wars ===
The [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] general [[Hannibal|Hannibal Barca]] reportedly used coded references for his agents and informants in Rome and among allied territories.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 21, chapter 30 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0144:book=21:chapter=30 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Some sources suggest that key figures in his intelligence operations were identified using nicknames instead of real names to avoid detection by Roman counterintelligence.<ref name=":1" />

=== Rome ===
[[Julius Caesar]] used [[Cipher|ciphers]] to encode messages and likely employed code names for key operatives.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Suetonius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MeVVDwAAQBAJ&q=Suetonius,+The+Twelve+Caesars+(Life+of+Julius+Caesar) |title=The Twelve Caesars |date=2018-04-18 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=978-0-486-83023-0 |language=en}}</ref> His famous [[Caesar cipher]] (simple letter-shifting [[encryption]]) was used to disguise military commands.<ref name=":2" /> He also referred to [[Mark Antony|Marc Antony]] and other generals with shortened or altered names in correspondence to prevent interception from revealing strategic plans.<ref name=":2" />

=== Jewish code names in the Bible ===
During the [[Jewish revolts against Rome]], leaders and messengers used symbolic or misleading names in communications.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Wicked Priest {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wicked-priest |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Wacholder |first=Ben Zion |title=Who Is the Teacher of Righteousness? |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/who-is-the-teacher-of-righteousness/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=The BAS Library |language=en-US}}</ref> The Dead Sea Scrolls reference figures such as the “[[Teacher of Righteousness]]” and the “[[Wicked Priest]],” which may have functioned as code names to obscure real identities.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

=== Byzantine Empire ===
The [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire’s]] intelligence agents, particularly under [[Justinian II|Emperor Justinian I]], operated under codenames or titles rather than real identities.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Procopius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8oX0AEACAAJ |title=Anecdota Or Secret History |date=2023-07-18 |publisher=LEGARE STREET Press |isbn=978-1-01-943447-5 |language=en}}</ref> [[Procopius]] suggests that spies within the Persian and Gothic courts were assigned allegorical names to protect them from discovery.<ref name=":5" />