The lost symbol
The lost symbol is a novel by the American author Dan Brown , published in 2009 . The novel is assigned to the Thriller category.
Work data
The English original The Lost Symbol was published on September 15, 2009 and the German translation on October 14, 2009. The book was translated within ten days by Angela Koonen, Stefan Bauer, Helmut W. Pesch , Axel Merz, Rainer Schumacher and Dietmar Schmidt . External editor Wolfgang Neuhaus supervised the plant. On Wednesday, October 14th, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, sales began in bookshops.
The book has 768 pages. The German version was published - like the rest of Dan Brown's novels - by the Bastei Lübbe publishing group .
The audio book version consists of 6 CDs and, like its predecessors, The Da Vinci Code and Illuminati , was read by Harrison Ford's standard German voice actor Wolfgang Pampel . What is unusual is that the CDs are black, which means that not all devices can read the data.
Subject
The lost symbol is set in Washington, DC and thematizes legends surrounding the brotherhood of Freemasons . According to legend, they are said to have ancient knowledge that has been hidden inside people for thousands of years. Using noetics , the novel tries to explain which inner powers every person has and how he can use them. Scientist Katherine Solomon has experimental data that will completely change people's consciousness. In one section, Brown mentions December 21, 2012, the day when the long count of the Mayan calendar ends and the end of the world and the ascent of mankind into a new level of consciousness are predicted.
action
Symbolologist Robert Langdon is summoned by his friend Peter Solomon to give a talk in the National Statuary Hall of the Capitol for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC . Solomon's sister, Katherine, works as a noeticist in a large, dark laboratory at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center, seeking a connection between ancient science and modern physics to harness the material power of thought. However, Langdon does not have an audience for his lecture and instead receives a call from a certain Mal'akh , who outwitted the guards at the Capitol and kidnapped Peter. With Langdon's help, Mal'akh wants to open a portal to the Ancient Mysteries .
In the middle of the Capitol rotunda , someone finds Peter's severed hand pointing up. From the tattoos on his fingers, Langdon recognizes the mystery hand that serves as the invitation. Security chief Trent Anderson and director Inoue Sato of the CIA's Office of Security are suspicious of Langdon. This is skeptical about the old knowledge. He explains that the rotunda forms a Roman Temple of Vesta and that once a fire burned under a hole in the center of the floor. The founding fathers of Washington were therefore enthusiastic about ancient Rome. Directly under the dome is the fresco “The Apotheosis of George Washington ”. As the alleged psychiatrist Dr. Abbadon tells Mal'akh Katherine that Peter is being treated by him. They were both Masons of the 33rd degree and Peter's big secret was true.
Langdon recalls that Peter entrusted him with a hundred-year-old talisman intended to bring order out of chaos ( ōrdō ā chaos ). Katherine's assistant Trish Dunne finds on Katherine's order an enigmatic document that contains the terms "underground", "Washington", "old portal", "pyramid" and "Symbolon". The inscription SBB XIII on the mystery hand leads Langdon and Sato to the secret Senate Basement under the Capitol's crypt . The symbolologist reports on a Masonic ring with the sign of the Phoenix and the note: "Everything is revealed with the 33rd degree". A pyramid with a golden capstone hides ancient knowledge. SBB 13 is listed as Peter Solomon's private room and turns out to be a Freemason's chamber with a skull and other utensils. There you will find a stone, unfinished pyramid with a coded inscription. After an X-ray revealed that Langdon had the matching capstone in his pocket, Capitol architect Warren Bellamy, also a 33rd Freemason, saved Langdon from Sato.
Mal'akh over the phone orders that the map of the pyramid be deciphered by midnight. Langdon informs Katherine of the impending danger. But Mal'akh is already - like Katherine - in the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. He drowned Dunne in an ethanol basin and got the access card and the access code for Katherine's laboratory from her. Katherine escapes and learns that Mal'akh is her mother's killer. After the scientist escapes, Mal'akh blows up her laboratory using an improvised oxyhydrogen explosion . Meanwhile, Langdon and Bellamy begin deciphering the pyramid in the Library of Congress , using the capstone as a legend . Sato is also trying to crack the code with Chief Security Analyst Nola Kaye. Bellamy rates the pyramid and an associated secret staircase as more valuable than human life.
The architect was a witness when Peter's son Zachary decided on the family's financial legacy and against the pyramid on his 18th birthday. Zachary "squandered" the money and allegedly died in a Turkish prison. A man who introduced himself as his fellow prisoner and murderer attacked the Solomon family some time later and claimed the pyramid. Bellamy now realizes that Peter Solomon has chosen Robert Langdon to keep the capstone.
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After Katherine Solomon finds Bellamy and Langdon in the library, they run away from Sato's team together. While Bellamy is caught, Katherine and Langdon enter the Adams Building on a conveyor belt . The noetic insists on uncovering the secret of the pyramid. On the capstone you can read the inscription "The secret hides within The Order" and in the cube-shaped container that contained the capstone you will find the number 1514 together with the symbol 
. Langdon recognizes in it the monogram of Albrecht Dürer , who was a student of the Ancient Mysteries. The number refers to Dürer's engraving Melencolia I , which is on display in the National Gallery in Washington. A magic square with the magic sum of 34 can be seen on it. A chaos of letters previously deciphered with the Masonic alphabet can thus be assigned to the words “Jeova Sanctus Unus”.
Bellamy had previously sent the question “Is there no help for the widow's son?” (See Hiram Abif ) to a Freemason brother . This confidante now calls Langdon to a " refuge in Rome, north of the Tiber , which contains ten stones from Mount Sinai ". The description is reminiscent of the Roman traces in Washington. The taxi driver recognizes Langdon and Katherine, who are now being wanted. Katherine uses the seal of the United States on the dollar bill to deceive and lets the taxi go to Freedom Plaza . From there they supposedly want to take the subway to the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia , but in reality they are going to Tenleytown to the Washington National Cathedral . Meanwhile, Sato has taken Bellamy to the US Botanic Garden and classifies him as a threat to national security. Mal'akh, whose tattoos are said to be part of his transformation into a saint, prepares Peter's blood to describe the free space on his skull enclosed by the Ouroboros .
Old and blind Provost Colin Galloway receives Katherine and Langdon at Washington National Cathedral. He lets you feel a tiny point in the cube. Langdon places Peter's signet ring on the circumpoint and rotates it 33 degrees. Then the cube unfolds into a Rosicrucian . The text "Jeova Sanctus Unus" is an anagram by the alchemist Isaacus Neutonuus . In the Cathedral College kitchen, Katherine heats the pyramid in boiling water that is 33 degrees Newtons . By means of incandescence , a writing applied with phosphor becomes visible, which adds the words “Eight Franklin Square ” to the note “The secret hides within The Order” . When Langdon Mal'akh tries to call Kalorama Heights to share the findings, a security woman answers.
In college, Katherine and Langdon meet Sato and Bellamy, the latter admitting that he was in contact with Mal'akh. Mal'akh receives the message of the pyramid without "eight" and is lured to Franklin Square. When Katherine and Langdon drive to Kalorama Heights, however, they are surprised by Mal'akh, who has murdered a police officer. Lying on the floor, Langdon realizes the secret of "growing out" as wax seeps out of the heated pyramid. Sato finds the Temple of the Shriners in Franklin Square.
Mal'akh ties Katherine and locks Langdon in a tight box. While he is pouring a liquid into the box, he forces Langdon to decipher the symbols on the bottom of the pyramid. The symbolologist interprets the words “The secret hides within” as an indication of a secret inside and draws Mal'akh's attention to the eighth-order Franklin Square before he drowns. Mal'akh bleeds Katherine to death and goes out of hiding with Peter. Langdon recalls Peter's talk on the founders of the Smithsonian Institution, the Freemason's verbum significatum, and the impending revelation of the truth.
Sato's team rescues Katherine and Langdon, who survived through full fluid ventilation. He recognizes the word Heredom in the pyramid code Erερεδομ as the name for the house of the temple and suspects that Mal'akh wants to tattoo the Lost Word on his skull. While Langdon leads Sato to the Masonic building, Mal'akh looks for the stairs under the pyramid, which he recognizes in the orderly symbols. He has a spiral staircase on his spine and a phoenix tattooed on his chest. Sato shows Langdon a video of Masonic rituals in which Peter can be seen as Master of the Chair and many prominent politicians. Mal'akh puts Peter under pressure by threatening to publish the video, which he is slowly uploading as an email attachment. He completes the drawing on his skull with Peter's blood and demands that Peter kill him with the Akedah knife so that he can be a worthy human sacrifice . Peter learns that Mal'akh is his son Zachary, and Katherine also recognizes his identity from photos. When Peter raises the knife, Langdon arrives at the temple. A hectic chaos ensues with a helicopter destroying the glass roof. Mal'akh dies after being hit by the broken roof and Peter explains to him that the circumpoint is not the Lost Word. The sending of the email with the incriminating video is prevented at the last moment.
While the document with the keywords discovered by Dunne turns out to be from a CIA discussion forum about cryptos , Solomon Langdon shows a new interpretation of the symbols, in which the downward pointing arrow points to the southern compass direction. Blindfolded, Solomon leads Langdon to the top of the Washington Monument . The capstone of the obelisk contains the inscription " Laus Deo ", which can also be read on the pyramid in encrypted form: 
Au Σ 
Δ ϵ The Washington Monument is surrounded by a circumpoint and is located at the intersection of the American capital. The cube is reminiscent of a foundation stone and in the foundation stone of the monument is the Lost Word in the form of the Bible , which contains the Ancient Mysteries. According to the rule of “ know yourself ”, God is in every person.
Katherine learns that her research is saved by Peter's backup . She and Langdon return to the Capitol rotunda. In the apotheosis painting they see how gods and scientists are united, and Katherine says that the Bible already describes how thoughts can materially change the world. The motto " E Pluribus Unum " can be interpreted to mean that God represents the universal consciousness. Like God, people are creators. On the dome of the Capitol, Katherine and Langdon watch the rising sun light up the "Laus Deo" at the top of the Washington Monument. Langdon feels hope.
success
The book was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for 12 weeks in 2009 and 2010 .
filming
The filming of the novel by Sony Pictures was announced for 2012. Sony Pictures also filmed the previous novels Illuminati (2003) and Da Vinci Code (2004). Actor Tom Hanks is supposed to play the puzzle-solving Harvard professor again. Ron Howard , who directed the two previous films The Da Vinci Code - The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Illuminati (2009), was not recruited as a director for "The Lost Symbol" . In October 2011 it was announced that Mark Romanek was the favorite director. In July 2013 it was reported that Sony Pictures wanted to film the follow-up novel Inferno first. Tom Hanks should play Robert Langdon again and direct, as with the two already filmed books, Ron Howard. When “The Lost Symbol” will be filmed is still unclear.
literature
- Henrik Eberle: The Lost Symbol - The Key to Dan Brown's bestseller . Luebbe Publishing Group, 2010, ISBN 3-7857-2399-7 .
- The code for Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol , Munich: Piper 2010 (Piper 5922 series). ISBN 978-3-492-25922-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Many Translators of the "Lost Symbol" September 19, 2009
- ↑ In the English-language original capstone, meaning is a pyramidion , the keystone of ancient Egyptian pyramids and obelisks
- ↑ "The Lost Symbol": Mark Romanek is supposed to stage "Da Vinci Code 3"
- ↑ Dan Brown's "Inferno" comes out with Tom Hanks. FOCUS, July 17, 2013, accessed November 3, 2015 .