The Division Bell album cover

The Publius Enigma is a puzzle connected with Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell. It was perhaps the first Internet-based promotion for a major band, coming at a time before most artists or record labels had any kind of official Internet presence. Known designers of the puzzle include Storm Thorgerson and Richard Wright^{[citation needed]}. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x1024, 99 KB) David Gilmour - Guitar, lead vocals Nick Mason - Drums Richard Wright - Keyboards File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x1024, 99 KB) David Gilmour - Guitar, lead vocals Nick Mason - Drums Richard Wright - Keyboards File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... See also: 1994 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1994 Record labels established in 1994 // January 25 - P.O.D. - Snuff the Punk January 29 - The Supremes Mary Wilson is injured when her jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside of Los Angeles, California. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The iconic cover of Pink Floyds album The Dark Side of the Moon. ... Richard William Rick Wright (born July 28, 1943 in Hatch End, London, England) is a self-taught pianist and keyboardist best known for his long career with Pink Floyd. ...

Publius

The Publius Enigma is named after a messenger calling himself Publius who posted clues on a Pink Floyd internet newsgroup, [1], soon after the launch of The Division Bell world tour. These cryptic posts claimed that there was an enigma hidden within the album, and that an unspecified reward awaited the person or persons to solve the puzzle. Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

"The Division Bell is not like its predecessors. Although all great music is subject to multiple interpretations, in this case there is a central purpose and a designed solution. For the ingenious person (or group of persons) who recognizes this - and where this information points to - a unique prize has been secreted." [2]

Many Pink Floyd fans were skeptical, so Publius agreed to provide proof of his authenticity. On 16 July 1994 he delivered a prediction: is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ...

"Monday, July 18, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Approximately 10:30pm. Flashing white lights. There is an enigma." [3]

On the night in question at approximately 10:30 p.m. during the concert, white lights in front of the stage spelled out the words ENIGMA and PUBLIUS while the band performed as predicted. Video of the Giants Stadium event can now be seen on YouTube. Confirmation of the enigma was given again nearing the end of the tour, this time to a much larger audience. On 20 October 1994, during a televised concert at Earl's Court, London, the word ENIGMA was projected in large letters on to the backdrop of the stage. The projection can be seen on the P*U*L*S*E concert video (during the song "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)"). Pink Floyd are pioneers in the live music experience, renowned for their lavish stage shows that combine over-the-top visual experiences with music to create a show in which the performers themselves are almost secondary. ... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... The Earls Court Exhibition Centre is located in West London on the boundary between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. ... P*U*L*S*E is a Pink Floyd concert video taken from the October 20, 1994 concert at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, in The Division Bell tour, which is currently available on DVD. There was considerable delay in the release of the DVD edition of P*U*L... Another Brick in the Wall is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyds 1979 concept album, The Wall, subtitled Part I, Part II, and Part III, respectively, all of which were written by Pink Floyds bassist and then- lead...

The word ENIGMA that appeared projected on the stage during Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) was originally the word, with no embellishments. On the P.U.L.S.E video, embellishments were added so that it could still be seen, but was less obvious. On the P.U.L.S.E DVD, it was overlaid with L=mc², which changed to E = mc². It is quite clear the footage had been extensively edited to remove the word ENIGMA in all but the final few frames before the flash of light, when it is still clearly visible with no embellishments other than the scribbles that covered the screen a few seconds before. At the end of the concert, the logo for the DVD authoring company Das Boot uses an enigma machine as their logo, a subtle reminder that the enigma was still unsolved. Some die-hard enigma hunters have invested years of hard work to find a solution to the enigma presented by Publius. Another Brick in the Wall is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyds 1979 concept album, The Wall, subtitled Part I, Part II, and Part III, respectively, all of which were written by Pink Floyds bassist and then- lead... The plugboard, keyboard, lamps, and finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid of a three-rotor German military Enigma machine (version with labels) The Enigma machine was a cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. ...

"Genesis"

Three years after the last Publius message in 1997, another anonymous messenger calling himself Genesis appeared claiming to be a successor to Publius. Little conclusive proof of any connection to Pink Floyd was given. The Genesis messenger had indeed brought together many Pink Floyd fans with the hopes of solving the Enigma. It is not certain, but a few Publius Enigma hunters believe that the Genesis messenger is in fact the Publius of earlier times reorganized in a newer fashion and referring to it as a "New Beginning". From 1997 to 2007, Genesis delivered upwards of sixty cryptic messages to the newsgroup [4] (alt.music.pink-floyd). The "Genesis" messages differed a great deal from those that Publius posted. The Genesis posts stated clearly that it was necessary to combine both the Publius posts and the Genesis posts to break a rather difficult code that would have provided the solution to the Enigma. Genesis also stated that Pink Floyd music, artwork and public media other than that was contained in The Division Bell album and CD booklet, will also have provided the same solution. Messages from "Genesis" often contained cryptic clues that when unraveled invoked wonder in many as to the authenticity of "Genesis". The messages also often contained promises to the solver(s) of the puzzle great fortunes and global scale celebrations.

"In that moment, nobody alive will grasp the celebration that will instill upon you "the master" of your own "New Beginning" and that of the most wonderful band still alive today: PF."

Some of the Genesis messages when combined with those from Publius have lead to the discovery of anomalies never before detected within certain Pink Floyd media.

Current status of the Enigma

In April 2005, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason stated that the Publius Enigma did exist, and that it had been instigated by the record company, rather than the band: Nicholas Berkeley Nick Mason (born January 27, 1944 in Birmingham, England) is the drummer for Pink Floyd. ...

"That was a ploy done by EMI. They had a man working for them who adored puzzles. ... He was working for EMI and suggested that a puzzle be created that could be followed on the Web. The prize was never given out. To this day it remains unsolved." [5]

Nick Mason during a book signing of his biographical work Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd in 2005 had revealed that the enigma was real, and that the prize was a "crop of trees planted in a clear cut area of forest".

Apparent clues to the existence and validity of the Enigma have appeared in releases of Pink Floyd related media up to 2005, including some releases not connected to EMI:

• The artwork for the MiniDisc release of A Momentary Lapse of Reason contains the words PUBLIUS and ENIGMA.
• The words "Publius Enigma" can be heard spoken just before the song "One of These Days" on the 2003 DVD release of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (Universal).
• Storm Thorgerson's cover for John Harris' book The Dark Side of the Moon, published by HarperCollins in 2005 prominently includes the word ENIGMA alongside an ellipsis (a regular feature of Genesis' clues).

But perhaps the most intriguing clue to surface suggesting that the enigma is authentic came on June 11, 2005 when the band agreed to reunite for Live 8. Sources at PubliusEnigma.com reported that a forum poster named "PubliusEnigma" had predicted this event with posted clues involving the number "11:11" exactly a year earlier to the day (June 11th, 2004). It was later revealed that "PubliusEnigma" was posting under several monikers in the messageboard, which brought about doubts about his credibility despite the accurate prediction. PubliusEnigma.com was soon hacked after the website's owner erased "PubliusEnigma's" clues, (citing fraud) leaving many Enigmatists feeling disillusioned. Though sources did not report the agreement until June 12, according to the press the actual reconciliation happened on June 11. It is widely known among the Publius Enigma community that Publius made his debut post on June 11, 1994, exactly 11 years to the day earlier. Some have suggested that this is directly related to the clue found on the inside of The Division Bell booklet which reads ELF-ELF which is German for 11:11. Interestingly enough, Pink Floyd were scheduled to play at Live 8, in Hyde Park, London around 9-10 p.m. Due to the show running late, their set was delayed and they didn't take the stage until shortly after 11 p.m. London time. At 11:11 p.m., (as predicted by "PubliusEnigma" earlier that year), Roger Waters and David Gilmour were playing their first show together after a quarter of a century. See also IBMs VM operating system family, where minidisk refers to a logical unit of storage. ... Alternate cover US remaster cover A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyds 1987 album, the bands first release after the official departure of Roger Waters from the band in 1985. ... Meddle track listing One of These Days (1) A Pillow of Winds (2) One of These Days is the opening track from Pink Floyds 1971 album Meddle. ... Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the major American film studios. ... The iconic cover of Pink Floyds album The Dark Side of the Moon. ... For other persons named John Harris, see John Harris (disambiguation). ... HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. ... Distinguish from ellipse. ... Official Live8 DVD, released in November 2005 Live 8 was a series of concurrent benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. ... George Roger Waters (born September 6, 1943) is an English rock musician; singer, guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and composer. ... David Jon Gilmour CBE (born March 6, 1946 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) is an English guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known as a member of the band Pink Floyd. ...

There is also a movie currently in production entitled 11:11 which features Pink Floyd's "High Hopes" as its title track. The theme of the movie seems to mirror the theme of the song which is loosely based on the split from childhood to adulthood. High Hopes is a song from the 1994 Pink Floyd album, The Division Bell, written by David Gilmour and Polly Samson. ...

On March 6, 2006 David Gilmour released his solo album On An Island. It has recently come to light that the release date of this album was precisely 11 years and 11 months (11:11) after the US release date of The Division Bell on April 5, 1994. With OAI being released exactly 30 days (one average month) before the official 12th anniversary of the US release date of TDB, it is hard to dismiss this as coincedence.

External links

Solutions

The car from High Hopes painted in the puzzle piece lends some direction to the location of the 'missing piece of the puzzle' found at 05:22 in High hopes. Essentially puzzle pieces are little keys part of a bigger picture.

• [6] [C.D.C] by "Y" with the help of "DS"

This solution found exacting relationships between the page numbers, the piano composition of the first track Cluster One, the glyph on page two of the booklet, as well as the glyphs which featured on the balloons in the High Hopes music video. It involved locating a missing key which was the piano note "D" and displacing this 'missing' note with two other singular notes C and C (in the final part of the piano) into three dots featured inside the booklet and on the spine of the CD cover. Played together the notes C and D on piano represent a basic example of what makes a piano cluster. Incidentally, the dissonance of the tuning in the specially made foundry bell in the final track High Hopes was tuned prominently to C, with D harmonics. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. ... A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. ... variant glyphs representing the character a (allographs of a) in the Zapfino typeface. ... Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity. ...

Another possible path to a solution: This solution found connections to the sacred Mayan date of Dec, 21 2012 at precisely 11:11 universal time. At this exact time, an alignment of the sun and the center of our galaxy will occur.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.music.pink-floyd/browse_thread/thread/8919801aebe93f21/3537cd507a4ee05e?hl=en#3537cd507a4ee05e

Discussion

• PubliusEnigma.com Discussion forum for the Publius Enigma

Analysis

• A Guide to the Publius Enigma An overview of the clues
• Publius Enigma A comprehensive history and analysis
• Pink Floyd & Co A brief history of the Publius Enigma
• The Division Bell Concept Analysis based on cybernetics

Resources

• The Publius posts
• The Genesis posts