In ancient Egypt, spies were depicted in hieroglyphics and papyrus scrolls as court spies who were hired by the Pharaoh to find people disloyal to the Egyptian crown. Spies were also used to gather information from other powerful civilizations like the ancient Greeks and Romans. These court spies were known for using codes, hidden messages, and secret meeting places to gather and pass information amongst themselves and the Pharaoh.

As one of the oldest and greatest of the ancient empires, it should come as no surprise that the ancient Greeks used espionage in one way or another. The Greeks were a powerful military force, and in order to maintain dominance, spies were employed to gather information about possible military uprisings. Information was passed along quickly because of the use of communication outposts throughout
the Greek Empire. Information was passed from one outpost to the next via a courier, helping information travel faster than ever before and giving Greek rulers the upper hand.

You know them as fierce fighters, but did you know that ninjas were also used as spies? Because of their ability to quickly adapt to their environment and their incredible use of disguise, ninjas were often hired by samurai warlords to spy on their enemies and gather information about possible uprisings. Historians have reason to believe that ninjas used a class system, meaning that samurai hired the ninja through the highest-ranking ninja who then assigned a lower ranking ninja to carry out the specific task.

The Byzantine Empire, like the Greek and Roman Empires, employed spies to collect information to maintain the balance throughout the empire. The Byzantines had different categories for their spies, including lookouts, double agents, spies who secured roads, and those who simply collected information. There was also a human postal system of sorts, or people whose job was to pass information to someone else until the information reached the right person. This system was very important and helped get information passed along quickly. Spies in this civilization each had a specific task to carry out to help the emperor maintain peace and his power throughout the empire.