Sacrilege (novel)

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The Da Vinci Code is the title of the 2004 version of translation of a thriller by Dan Brown , the 2003 under the title The Da Vinci Code was published. The novel is essentially based on the pseudoscientific book " The Holy Grail and His Heirs " (1982). He combines entertainment with conspiracy theories and an alternative view of the whole of church and French history ; there are also interspersed false assertions of fact that supposedly support the story.

The book has been translated into 44 languages. A film adaptation with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou in the leading roles was released on May 18, 2006 under the title The Da Vinci Code .

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The Louvre by Night (2007)

Robert Langdon , symbol researcher and professor at Harvard University , who was already the protagonist of the novel Illuminati, was in Paris for professional reasons when he received a strange call in the middle of the night: Jacques Saunière, the chief curator of the Louvre , became one of them Museum gallery found murdered. A few minutes later, a DCPJ official stands in front of his door in the Hôtel Ritz and informs him that Saunière, with whom Langdon had an appointment for that evening, was murdered in the Grande Galerie. Langdon sees a bizarre scene in the museum: Saunière is lying naked on the floor with his limbs stretched out. He has painted a pentagram on his stomach with his own blood and written a puzzling message next to him, which is made visible by UV light:

Proportion study according to Vitruvius (1485/90)

"13 3 2 21 1 1 8 5
O DRACONIAN DEVIL!
OH LAME SAINT! "

(English: O draconian devil! Oh lame saint!)

When the chief of police Bezu Fache extended the beam of UV light and a circle became visible around the corpse, Langdon recognized the allusion to the study of proportions based on Vitruvius , one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous works . Langdon learns from Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist in the decryption department of the Paris Police, that there is a message for him from the American embassy, ​​but that it is actually a message on Neveu's answering machine.

There Langdon learns that he is considered the main suspect in this murder case because the message still included the note looking for PS Robert Langdon . However, this notice has since been removed by Fache. Neveu, a granddaughter of Saunière, thinks the American is innocent because she sees the letters "PS" in the reference as an allusion to her nickname Princess Sophie .

By means of a diversionary maneuver, the two manage to gain some time, which they do not use to escape, as they have now deciphered Saunière's message: The numbers belong to the Fibonacci sequence and should attract the cryptology department and thus Neveu. The next two lines do not point to devils or saints , but are anagrams that the cryptologist dealt with as a child. The real message is:

Mona Lisa (1505)

"1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21
LEONARDO DA VINCI!
THE MONA LISA! "

On the safety glass of the famous painting, the Mona Lisa , Neveu discovers a message written with a special pen, which this time she can quickly decipher. The anagram “ SO DARK THE CON OF MAN ” becomes the English title of the painting of the rock cave Madonna , namely “ MADONNA OF THE ROCKS ”.

Rock Grotto Madonna (1486)

Before his death, Saunière hid an unusual key on the back of the painting, which Neveu recognizes immediately. She saw it as a child when her grandfather explained to her that this key held a great secret. Langdon recognizes from the engraved letters PS and the symbol of the lily that Saunière belonged to the Prieuré de Sion . As it turns out later, the curator was even the Grand Master of the Brotherhood , which, as the successor to the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages, kept the mystery of the Holy Grail . Now the Brotherhood is facing its greatest crisis. Because in addition to the Grand Master, his three Seneschals were also murdered. The family secret that Saunière wanted to share with his granddaughter is in danger of being lost forever.

Behind the murders seems to be the prelature Opus Dei , represented by the murdering Albino Silas and Bishop Manuel Aringarosa. The protagonists assume that the Catholic Church wants to keep the secret knowledge of the Prieuré de Sion under lock and key, because otherwise the foundations of the Church would be shaken.

The Last Supper (1498)

During their escape from the police, Langdon and Neveu discover an address on the key. The Zürcher Depositenbank is located on Rue Haxo, where Saunière had a safe deposit box. The two of them open the safe with the reverse Fibonacci sequence as a numerical code and find a secret container in a rosewood box .

This hollow cylinder, known as cryptex , is an invention of the author. According to the novel, the cryptex comes from Leonardo da Vinci and consists of five brass rings, similar to a combination lock . In each ring, marble platelets are inlaid all around, in each of which a letter is engraved. If the correct password is set, the cylinder can be opened. Inside is a scroll made of papyrus . The roll is wrapped around a fragile vial filled with vinegar . If you try to open the cryptex by force, the vial will break and the vinegar will break down the papyrus.

Langdon interprets the vessel as the legendary keystone that Silas looked for in an earlier scene in vain in the church of Saint-Sulpice . With their unusual luggage they first get into a money transporter that is driven by bank manager André Vernet, a business friend of Saunière. When he threatens them to get the cryptex, they overpower him and drive in the middle of the night to Sir Leigh Teabing, who lives at Château Villette near Versailles . The Briton is considered a leading expert on the Holy Grail and tells Sophie about its true nature.

Teabing and Sophie are now attacked by Silas, whom they can overpower. Together with the butler Rémy Legaloudec and the tied killer, they fly to London in Teabing's private jet. During the flight they deal with the cryptex. Under a rose emblem in the lid of the box (" sub rosa "), Langdon finds a message written in mirror writing:

"An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll
and helps to keep her scatter'd family whole
A headstone praised by templars is the key
and atbash will reveal the truth to thee."

“An ancient word of wisdom frees the roll '.
and helps unite their scattered family fully.
The key is a praised Templar
stone , and Atbasch gives you the truth. "

The three treasure hunters can solve the riddle relatively quickly: The Templar stone is the god Baphomet . If you translate your name with the Atbash code and take into account some peculiarities of the Hebrew alphabet , you get “σοφία” (“sophia”), the Greek word for “wisdom”. The five-letter solution word required to open the cryptex is found, but there is only one more cryptex and the following message:

Newton's grave in Westminster Abbey (2006)

“In London a knight read a Pope interred.
His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred.
You seek the orb that ought to be on his tomb.
It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb ”

“In London there is a knight who is buried by a Pope.
The fruit of his work brought him holy anger.
You are looking for the ball that should be on his grave.
She speaks of rosy flesh and a seedy womb. "

There is a knight in London who was buried by a Pope? This leads Teabing to Temple Church , a central site of the Order of the Knights Templar, which was repealed by Pope Clement V in 1307 . However, the track turns out to be the wrong track. Remy and Silas, who both work for the anonymous "teacher" who pulls the strings in the background, come in and kidnap Teabing and the Kryptex.

However, this is a ruse , because the "teacher" is Teabing himself. While Silas finally seeks refuge at Opus Dei and accidentally shoots Bishop Aringarosa there, Teabing murders his butler, who suffers from a peanut allergy, and is now unable to help Value more. He does this with a hip flask that contains the dissolved sediment from a can of peanuts. Meanwhile, Langdon and Neveu come closer to the solution during a research in the library. In this case, “Pope” does not mean the English word for “Pope”, but the English writer Alexander Pope , who wrote the eulogy for Isaac Newton . On his grave in Westminster Abbey you will find the message: “I have Teabing. Go through the chapter house, through the south exit into the public garden. ”In the extension, Teabing reveals to them that he was the mastermind and that Saunière saw a traitor because he had not published the Grail documents at the turn of the millennium. Langdon manages to open the cryptex. Teabing learns the answer, but not the content of the Kryptex, as the police arrives beforehand and takes him away.

The missing ball, which is pointed out in the message of the first Kryptex, turns out to be the "apple" that is said to have fallen on Newton's head and thus led him to the discovery of gravity . Langdon and Neveu travel to Scotland because the final message seems to refer to the Rosslyn Chapel :

“The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits.
The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her Gates.
Adorned in masters' loving art, She lies.
She rests at last beneath the starry skies. "

“The Holy Grail persists under old Roslin.
Their gates are well protected by sword and chalice.
She lies adorned with the master's fine art.
Finally it rests under the starry sky. "

Here Sophie meets her brother and grandmother and learns that she herself is a descendant of the Merovingians and thus of Jesus . But that doesn't answer the question of where the Holy Grail is. Langdon only reveals this secret when he is back in Paris. There he follows a series of markings across the city: the rose line (a fiction by Brown, see Meridian of Paris ). The trail ends in the Louvre , whose entrance area is a glass pyramid Inversée , a pyramid that points downwards. It reminds him of the chalice, which is a symbol of the divine feminine. The secret lies in the smaller pyramid at its end, "surrounded by the art of great masters under the starry sky" .

Depicted theses

Brown lets the people in his book represent the following theses: Mary Magdalene represents a "cult of the Great Mother " that existed within early Christianity. She was Jesus' wife and the mother of his daughter Sarah. Her body, which bore the descendants of Jesus, is the legendary Holy Grail , as can be seen in Leonardo da Vinci's coded painting " The Last Supper ". Originally it was she who was chosen by Jesus to found a community of faith. In the Bible, Peter is given the task of leading the community.

The knowledge of Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus was suppressed by the Council of Nicaea in 325, which should be seen in the context of Emperor Constantine's conquest of sole rule the year before. He is also said to have been the one who declared Jesus to be divine and thus pursued selfish goals. Jesus' disciples did not see him as God.

The bones of Mary Magdalene and the secret documents that told the real story were found on the Temple Mount when Jerusalem was conquered in the First Crusade . This “truth” about Christ and Mary Magdalene was kept alive by a secret society called Prieuré de Sion , which later founded the Knights Templar. Many famous people, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton , are said to have held high positions there.

This story is closely related to the Gnostic writings of Nag-Hammadi discovered in 1945 .

The old French expression for the Holy Grail Sangreal is correctly read Sang Real , which translated means "royal blood". This means the Merovingians , who are referred to as the descendants of Maria Magdalena and Jesus and whose family tree is still continued in France today .

Brown's variant of the Grail legend

The Holy Grail is interpreted by Brown as the female womb and the female childbearing ability in general, and in particular the womb of Mary Magdalene .

Accordingly, he is a symbol of the worship of the primordial mother and the ability of women to bring forth life. This idea coincides both with the symbolic form (goblet or vessel) and in terms of content with the traditions of other descriptions that describe it as a place of origin, paradise, balance, harmony or as a cauldron of rebirth .

However, Brown adds a material aspect to this symbolic interpretation of the Grail. This is made up of the mortal remains of Mary Magdalene and the documents of her marriage and children with Jesus Christ. According to Brown, all of this was found in the ruins of the temple by the Templars and threatens the existence of the church as it falsifies its image of Jesus. The Prieuré de Sion developed various methods to protect the true Grail, for example the actual legend of the Holy Grail, which is also closely linked to symbols of the divine cult of femininity.

The Lord's Supper (excerpt)
The Lord's Supper (enlarged section)

In his work “ The Last Supper ” Leonardo da Vinci shows the truth: Jesus is not sitting on the right side, as is generally assumed by art history, the beardless disciple John, but Mary Magdalene, and between the two there is a triangle pointing downwards indicated. This is both the symbol for the womb as well as for the divine feminine . The complementary colors of the clothes of Jesus and Mary Magdalene complemented each other like the masculine and feminine. The posture of the two also corresponds to the V-shape. In addition, the chalice is missing from the picture because Mary Magdalene herself is the Holy Grail. A shift of Mary Magdalene from the left to the right side of Jesus Christ completes the work.

Dan Brown's sources

The main sources for Brown's novel are the 1982 book The Holy Grail and His Heirs ( Holy Blood, Holy Grail ) by Henry Lincoln , Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh . The authors referred to forged documents by Pierre Plantard , who wanted to pretend to be a descendant of the Merovingians , but added a descent from David and Jesus .

Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh are also the source for the theories regarding the documents of the Prieuré de Sion , which were found by Abbé Bérenger Saunière in the church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine in Rennes-le-Château . The murdered curator and grandmaster Jacques Saunière in Brown's novel is named after him.

In the opinion of Baigents and Leighs, the use of motifs from their book in the novel constitutes an infringement of their copyrights . Both have therefore brought a copyright protection suit against the publisher Random House , which was however dismissed by a London court.

Brown refers to his sources in encrypted form in the novel: The name of the Grail expert Leigh Teabing is an anagram from the names of the authors Leigh and Baigent. The reference to Henry Lincoln, the third author, is in the physical condition of the sick Teabing, which is very similar to Lincoln's. In addition, her main work "The Holy Grail and its heirs" is expressly mentioned in the 60th chapter of the novel.

Other sources by Brown are:

  • The apocryphal Gospel of Philip , from which in chap. 58 Quotes from Proverb 55: “And the consort of Christ is Mary Magdalene. The Lord loved her more than any other disciples, and He kissed her [mouth] many times. The other disciples [...] said to him: 'Why do you love them more than all of us?' "
  • “Beyond God the Father: Towards a Philosophy of Women's Liberation”, 1973, German “Jenseits von Gottvater, Sohn & Co” and “Gyn-Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism”, 1978, German “Gyn / Ökologie. The Metaethics of Radical Feminism ”by Mary Daly
  • "The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ" by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, 1997
  • "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail", 1993 and "Goddess in the Gospel: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine", 1998 by Margaret Starbird: "Maria Magdalena and the female fertility cult"

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ z. B. Claims
    • the Venus (planet) moves every four years in a five-star ( pentagram )
    • the symbol of Venus is the pentagram
    • the Gnosticism taught that Jesus Christ was human
    • Paris was by the Merovingian founded
    • various facts about Opus Dei (in fact the order has no monks; a significant proportion of the leaders are women; the founder - Josemaría Escrivá - was canonized not 20, but 27 years after his death, due to a generally accelerated procedure, etc.)
    • Early Judaism worshiped Shekhina as an equal goddess to the Jewish god Yahweh
  2. ↑ German Spy Museum : Das Kryptex: Between Truth, Fiction and Conspiracy Theory , loaded on March 6, 2018
  3. ↑ Dan Brown's extensive testimony. Massimo Introvigne calls it "a fascinating autobiography of the writer"
  4. ↑ Dan Brown also wins the appeal process

literature

  • Dan Brown: The sacrilege . (orig .: The Da Vinci Code ), Lübbe, 2004, ISBN 3-7857-2152-8 (Der Originalroman) (48 weeks in 2004 and 2005 at number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list )
  • Darrell L. Bock : The sacrilege conspiracy. Facts and background to the novel by Dan Brown . Brunnen-Verl., Gießen 2006 (Breaking The Da Vinci Code, 2004) ISBN 3-7655-1926-X (historical and theological background from the perspective of a New Testament scholar)
  • Dan Burstein (Ed.): The Truth About The Da Vinci Code . Goldmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-442-15330-1
  • Walter-Jörg Langbein: The sacrilege and the holy women. The secret of Jesus' descendants. Rütten and Loening, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-352-00655-5
  • Marie-France Etchegoin, Frédéric Lenoir: The Secret of the Da Vinci Code. Secret societies, conspiracies, coded paintings and the real locations in Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" . Piper series, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-24630-3 (French original title Code Da Vinci: L'enquête), (by a journalist specializing in criminal cases at the “Nouvel Observateur” and a sociologist, philosopher and writer, editor-in-chief of the magazine “ Le Monde des religions ")
  • Marc Hillefeld: A code is cracked. Dan Brown's novel “Da Vinci Code” deciphered! vgs, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8025-3420-4
  • Sharan Newman: Key to the Da Vinci Code. The real background to "Da Vinci Code". Ullstein, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-548-36785-2
  • Erwin W. Lutzer: The 'Da Vinci Code'. Fact or fiction? Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" exposed . Christl. Verlagsgesellschaft, Dillenburg 2005, ISBN 3-89436-468-8
  • Alexander Schick, Michael Welte et al .: The true sacrilege. The hidden background of the Da Vinci Code - The secret behind Dan Brown's world bestseller . Knaur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-426-77955-2 ( website of the author for the book with text excerpts )
  • Hank Hanegraaff and Paul L. Maier : Dan Browns Sacrilege (The Da Vinci Code). Data, facts and background . CLV, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 3-89397-553-5 ( PDF ), (In Part 1 the historian, theologian and novelist Paul L. Maier describes mistakes in Da Vinci Code , in Part 2 the president of the conservative evangelical Christian Research Institute , Hank Hanegraaff, his "historical truth" based on the Bible and theological research.)
  • Oliver Mittelbach: Dan Brown's thriller locations as travel destinations . 4th edition, Verlag books & friends, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-9809408-4-5 (Sacrilege tour through Paris and London, Illuminati tour through Rome, Diabolus tour through Seville.)
  • Joachim Valentin (Ed.): Sacrilege - a blasphemy? Read Dan Brown's work critically. Aschendorff, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-402-11785-9 .

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