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The Da Vinci Code
  The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective fiction novel written by an American author, Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ of Nazareth having been married to Mary Magdalene.
  
  The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that the murder victim is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood.
  
  The novel has provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church. It has also been criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracy.
  
  The book is a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009[update] and has been translated into 44 languages. This makes it, as of 2010, the best selling English language novel of the 21st century and the 2nd biggest selling novel of the 21st century in any language. Combining the detective, thriller, and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon, the first being his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released by Sony's Columbia Pictures.
  
  This book describes the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière of the Louvre Museum in Paris. A baffling cipher is found near his body. Saunière's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu and Langdon attempt to sort out the bizarre riddles and are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.
  
  The unraveling of the mystery requires solutions to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.
  Details
  
  The story starts off with the murder of Jacques Saunière (the Grand Master Of Priory of Sion, although virtually no one knows that at the time) by Silas (acting on behalf of someone known only as The Teacher) to extract the location of the "keystone", an item that leads to the Holy Grail. The police summon Robert Langdon, who is delivering a lecture in Paris, to the murder scene and ask for his help in deciphering the code Sauniere left on and near his body. Bezu Fache, the Captain of the Central Directorate Judicial Police, believes Langdon is the prime suspect in the murder.
  
  Sophie Neveu shows up at the murder scene as a police cryptographer and quickly gains Langdon's trust. Jacques Saunière was Neveu's grandfather and they were very close to each other until she discovered him participating in a pagan sex ritual (Hieros Gamos) at his home in Normandy, when she made a surprise visit there during a break from boarding school. (That she had observed something is mentioned and hinted at several times throughout the story, but what it is that she saw is revealed to no one, including the reader, until near the end when she tells Robert).
  
  Langdon and Neveu find a baffling cipher near Saunière's body. These clues were meant to lead to a second set of clues. By deciphering her grandfather's clues, Neveu finds the painting, which has a key hidden behind it with an address and symbols of the Priory of Sion were written on it. Working together, Langdon and Neveu trick the police, flee the scene and figure out the secret of the key.
  
  The key opens a safe deposit box at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Saunière's account number at the bank is a 10-digit number listing the digits of the first eight Fibonacci numbers: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21.
  
  Inside the safe deposit box they find the keystone which is actually a large cryptex, a cylindrical device supposedly invented by Leonardo Da Vinci for transporting secure messages. To open it the combination of rotating components must be arranged in the correct order. If the cryptex is forced open an enclosed vial of vinegar ruptures and dissolves the message, which was written on papyrus. The rosewood box containing the large cryptex contains clues to the combination of the cryptex, written in backwards script in the same manner as Leonardo's journals.
  
  The instructions that Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint are actually a well-rehearsed lie, namely that the keystone is buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice beneath an obelisk that lies exactly along the ancient "Rose Line" (the former Prime Meridian which passed through Paris before it was redesignated to pass through Greenwich). The message beneath the obelisk simply contains a reference to a passage in the Book of Job (38:11a) which reads in part "Hitherto shalt thou go and no further."(KJV) When Silas reads this, he realizes he has been tricked.
  
  Still being chased by the police, Langdon and Neveu take the keystone to Sir Leigh Teabing (an expert in the Holy Grail and Langdon's friend). They flee the country in Teabing's private plane, and on the plane figure out how to open the cryptex, but the large cryptex actually contains a second smaller cryptex with a second riddle that reveals its combination. The riddle, which says to seek the orb that should be on the tomb of "a knight a pope interred," refers not to a medieval knight, but rather to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, who was buried in Westminster Abbey, and was eulogized by Alexander Pope (A. Pope).
  
  It turns out that Teabing is the Teacher who assigned Silas to kill Jacques Saunière and he also had information on the identities of the leaders of the Priory of Sion who then bugged their offices and had Silas assassinate them. Rémy is his collaborator. It is Teabing who contacted Bishop Aringarosa, hiding his identity, and tricked him into financing the plan to find the Grail. He never intended to hand the Grail over to Aringarosa but is taking advantage of Opus Dei's resolve to find it. Teabing believes that the Priory of Sion has broken its vow to reveal the secret of the Grail to the world at the appointed time. He plans to steal the Grail documents and reveal them to the world himself, ruining the church, which he blames for the event. It was he who informed Silas that Langdon and Sophie Neveu were at his chateau. He did not seize the keystone from them himself because he did not want to reveal his identity. He summoned Silas to seize the keystone in his house, but himself thwarted Silas, in order to gain Langdon and Sophie's further help with decoding the cryptex. Subsequently, the police raid the house, having followed the tracking device in the truck Langdon had stolen while escaping from the bank. Teabing led Neveu and Langdon to the Temple Church in London, knowing full well that it was a dead end, in order to stage the hostage scene with Rémy and thereby obtain the keystone without revealing his real plot to Langdon and Neveu.
  
  To erase all knowledge of his work, Teabing kills Rémy by giving him cognac laced with peanut powder, knowing Rémy has a deadly allergy to peanuts. Thus, Rémy dies of an anaphylactic shock. Teabing also anonymously tells the police that Silas is hiding in the London headquarters of Opus Dei.
  
  In a showdown with Teabing in Westminster Abbey, Langdon secretly opens the second cryptex and removes its contents before destroying it in front of Teabing. Teabing is arrested and led away while fruitlessly begging Langdon to tell him the contents of the second cryptex and the secret location of the Grail.
  
  Bezu Fache finds out that Neveu and Langdon are innocent after Bishop Aringarosa contacts him privately to confess. Fache then cancels the warrants for the arrest of Neveu and Langdon.
  
  Silas accidentally shoots Aringarosa outside the London headquarters of Opus Dei while fleeing from the police. Realizing his terrible error and that he has been duped, Aringarosa tells Bezu Fache to give the bearer bonds in his briefcase to the families of the murdered leaders of the Priory of Sion. Silas dies from his fatal wounds.
  
  The final message inside the second keystone actually does not refer to Rosslyn Chapel, although the Grail was indeed once buried there, below the Star of David on the floor (the two interlocking triangles are the "blade" and "chalice," i.e., male and female symbols).
  
  The docent in Rosslyn Chapel is Sophie's long-lost brother. Sophie had been told as a child that he was killed with her parents and grandmother in a car accident.
  
  The guardian of Rosslyn Chapel, Marie Chauvel, is Sophie's long-lost grandmother, and the wife of Jacques Saunière. She is the woman who participated in the sex ritual with Jacques Saunière. It is revealed that Sophie is a descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion hid her identity to protect her from possible threats to her life.
  
  Even though all four of the leaders of the Priory of Sion are killed, the secret is not lost, since there is still a contingency plan (never revealed) that will keep the organization and its secret alive.
  
  The real meaning of the last message is that the Grail is buried beneath the small pyramid (i.e., the "blade," a male symbol) directly below the inverted glass pyramid of the Louvre (i.e., the "chalice," a female symbol, which Langdon and Sophie ironically almost crashed into while making their original escape from Bezu Fache). It also lies beneath the "Rose Line," which is similar to "Rosslyn." Langdon figures out this final piece to the puzzle in the last pages of the book, but he does not appear inclined to tell anyone about this. See La Pyramide Inversée for further discussion.
  Characters
  
  These are the principal characters that drive the plot. Some have names that are puns, anagrams or hidden clues:
  
   * Robert Langdon
   * Jacques Saunière
   * Sophie Neveu
   * Bezu Fache
   * Silas
   * Manuel Aringarosa
   * André Vernet
   * Leigh Teabing
   * Rémy Legaludec
   * Jérôme Collet
   * Marie Chauvel Saint-Clair
   * Pamela Gettum
  
  Secret of the Holy Grail
  Detail of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
  
  In the novel Leigh Teabing explains to Sophie Neveu that the figure at the right hand of Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper" is not the apostle John, but actually Mary Magdalene. In the novel, Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ and was pregnant with his child when Jesus was crucified. Leigh Teabing says that the absence of a chalice in Leonardo's painting means Leonardo knew that Mary Magdalene was the actual Holy Grail and the bearer of Jesus' blood in the form of the child she was carrying. Leigh Teabing goes on to explain that this idea is supported by the shape of the letter "V" that is formed by the bodily positions of Jesus and Mary, as "V" is the symbol for the sacred feminine. The absence of the Apostle John in the painting is explained by knowing that John is also referred to as "the Disciple Jesus loved", code for Mary Magdalene. The book also notes that the color scheme of their garments are inverted: Jesus wears a red blouse with royal blue cape; John/Mary wears a royal blue blouse with red cape — perhaps symbolizing two bonded halves of marriage.
  
  According to the novel, the secrets of the Holy Grail, as kept by the Priory of Sion are as follows:
  
   * The Holy Grail is not a physical chalice, but a woman, namely Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Christ.
   * The Old French expression for the Holy Grail, San gréal, actually is a play on Sang réal, which literally means "royal blood" in Old French.
   * The Grail relics consist of the documents that testify to the bloodline, as well as the actual bones of Mary Magdalene.
   * The Grail relics of Mary Magdalene were hidden by the Priory of Sion in a secret crypt, perhaps beneath Rosslyn Chapel.
   * The Church has suppressed the truth about Mary Magdalene and the Jesus bloodline for 2000 years. This is principally because they fear the power of the sacred feminine in and of itself and because this would challenge the primacy of Saint Peter as an apostle. More than that, it would prove that Jesus was human, and therefore not divine.
   * Mary Magdalene was of royal descent (through the Jewish House of Benjamin) and was the wife of Jesus, of the House of David. That she was a prostitute was slander invented by the Church to obscure their true relationship. At the time of the Crucifixion, she was pregnant. After the Crucifixion, she fled to Gaul, where she was sheltered by the Jews of Marseille. She gave birth to a daughter, named Sarah. The bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian dynasty of France.
   * The existence of the bloodline was the secret that was contained in the documents discovered by the Crusaders after they conquered Jerusalem in 1099 (see Kingdom of Jerusalem). The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar were organized to keep the secret.
  
  The secrets of the Grail are connected, according to the novel, to Leonardo Da Vinci's work as follows:
  
   * Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion and knew the secret of the Grail. The secret is in fact revealed in The Last Supper, in which no actual chalice is present at the table. The figure seated next to Christ is not a man, but a woman, his wife Mary Magdalene. Most reproductions of the work are from a later alteration that obscured her obvious female characteristics.
   * The androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church. The name Mona Lisa is actually an anagram for "Amon L'Isa", referring to the father and mother gods of Ancient Egyptian religion (namely Amun and Isis).
  
  A number of different authors also speculate about the possibility of Jesus becoming a father. There are at least three children attributed to him, a daughter Tamar, born before the Crucifixion, and two sons Jesus (the Jesus Justus from the New Testament) and Josephes, both born after the Resurrection. Although their names are now part of the common culture of conspiracy writers, only two decades ago, when The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was written, the names were not mentioned. The royal descents that lie at the heart of The Da Vinci Code mystery centre on the family of Josephes, who is supposed to be the grandfather of Aminadab del Graal, first of the "Fisher Kings". However the genealogies that are quoted in Grail lore appear to record too few generations, with children regularly being born to fathers in their 40s.
  Reception
  
  Brown's novel was a major success in 2004 and was outsold only by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It won Book Sense's 2004 Book of the Year Award in the Adult Fiction category. It spawned a number of offspring works and drew positive reviews from The New York Times, People,[citation needed] and The Washington Post.[citation needed] Additionally, The Da Vinci Code has inspired a number of novels very similar to it, including Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar and Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy.[citation needed] In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, the book came in fourth in a list of the 101 best books ever written.
  
  The book was not generally well received by critics, however, and it has been the subject of numerous negative appraisals concerning its literary value and its portrayal of history. Its writing and historical accuracy were reviewed scathingly by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Salon.com, among others.
  Criticism
  Main article: Inaccuracies in The Da Vinci Code
  Historical inaccuracies
  
  The book generated criticism when it was first published, due to its inaccurate description of core aspects of Christianity, the history of the Catholic Church, and descriptions of European art, history, and architecture. The book has received mostly negative reviews from Catholic and other Christian communities.
  
  Many critics say that Brown should have done much more research before publishing this book. On February 22, 2004, an article titled "The Last Word: The Da Vinci Con" appeared in the New York Times by writer Laura Miller. Miller attacks the Da Vinci Code on multiple levels, referring to it as "based on a notorious hoax", "rank nonsense", and "bogus." She points out how heavily the book is based on the fabrications of Pierre Plantard (the Priory of Sion did not exist until Plantard created it) who in 1953 was arrested and convicted of fraud.
  
  Critics accuse Brown of distorting and fabricating history. For example, Marcia Ford wrote:
  
   Regardless of whether you agree with Brown's conclusions, it's clear that his history is largely fanciful, which means he and his publisher have violated a long-held if unspoken agreement with the reader: Fiction that purports to present historical facts should be researched as carefully as a nonfiction book would be.
  
  Richard Abanes wrote:
  
   The most flagrant aspect … is not that Dan Brown disagrees with Christianity but that he utterly warps it in order to disagree with it … to the point of completely rewriting a vast number of historical events. And making the matter worse has been Brown's willingness to pass off his distortions as ‘facts' with which innumerable scholars and historians agree.
  
  The book opens with the claim by Dan Brown that "The Priory of Sion — a European secret society founded in 1099 — is a real organization". The Priory of Sion itself was actually a hoax created in 1956 by a Mr. Pierre Plantard. The author also claims that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents … and secret rituals in this novel are accurate"; but this claim is disputed by almost all academic scholars in the fields the book discusses.
  
  Numerous works have been published that explain in detail why any claim to accuracy is difficult to substantiate, while two lawsuits have been brought alleging plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code. The first suit for copyright infringement was filed in February 2006 in a British court by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a purportedly nonfiction account of Mary Magdalene's role as the wife of Jesus of Nazareth and the mother of his child, was found in Dan Brown's favor. No verdict has yet been rendered on a second suit, filed in August of the same year, in the United States by Jack Dunn, the author of The Vatican Boys.
  
  A third author, Lewis Perdue, alleged that Brown plagiarized from two of his novels, The Da Vinci Legacy, originally published in 1983, and Daughter of God, originally published in the year 2000. He sought to block distribution of the book and film. However, Judge George Daniels of the US District Court in New York ruled against Perdue in 2005, saying that "A reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that The Da Vinci Code is substantially similar to Daughter of God" and that "Any slightly similar elements are on the level of generalised or otherwise unprotectable ideas." Perdue appealed, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original decision, saying Mr. Perdue's arguments were "without merit".
  
  Dan Brown himself dilutes the suggestion of some of the more controversial aspects being fact on his web site: "The "FACT" page makes no statement whatsoever about any of the ancient theories discussed by fictional characters. Interpreting those ideas is left to the reader". However, it also says that "these real elements are interpreted and debated by fictional characters", "it is my belief that some of the theories discussed by these characters may have merit." and "the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss." Brown's ambiguity on the matter continues to fuel debate over the factual content of the novel.
  
  Brown's earlier statements about the accuracy of the historical information in his book, however, were far more strident. In 2003, while promoting his novel, he was asked in interviews what parts of the history in his novel actually happened. He replied "Absolutely all of it." In a 2003 interview with CNN's Martin Savidge he was again asked how much of the historical background was true. He replied, "99% is true ... the background is all true". Asked by Elizabeth Vargas in an ABC News special if the book would have been different if he had written it as non-fiction he replied, "I don't think it would have." More recently Brown has avoided interviews and has been rather more circumspect about the accuracy of his claims in his few public statements. He has also, however, never retracted any of his earlier assertions that the history in the novel is accurate, despite substantial academic criticism of his claims.
  
  In 2005, UK TV personality Tony Robinson edited and narrated a detailed rebuttal of the main arguments of Dan Brown and those of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, "The Real Da Vinci Code", shown on British TV Channel 4. The program featured lengthy interviews with many of the main protagonists cited by Brown as "absolute fact" in The Da Vinci Code. Arnaud de Sède, son of Gérard de Sède, stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of the Prieuré de Sion, the cornerstone of the Jesus bloodline theory - to quote Arnaud de Sede in the program, "frankly, it was piffle". The program also cast severe doubt on the Rosslyn Chapel association with the Grail and on other related stories like the alleged landing of Mary Magdalene in France.
  Portrayal of early Christianity
  
  According to The Da Vinci Code, the Roman Emperor Constantine I suppressed Gnosticism because it portrayed Jesus as purely human. The novel's argument is as follows. Constantine wanted Christianity to act as a unifying religion for the Roman Empire. He thought Christianity would appeal to pagans only if it featured a demigod similar to pagan heroes. According to the Gnostic Gospels, Jesus was merely a human prophet, not a demigod. Therefore, to change Jesus' image, Constantine destroyed the Gnostic Gospels and promoted the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which portray Jesus as divine or semidivine.
  
  In fact, Gnosticism did not portray Jesus as merely human. Some Gnostic writings do depict Jesus interacting with his disciples in a wholly human way, one example being the Gospel of Mary,[citation needed] but the general Gnostic depiction of Jesus is not clear-cut. Many Gnostic writings depict Christ as purely divine, his human body being a mere illusion (see Docetism). Some Gnostic sects saw Christ this way because they regarded matter as evil, and therefore believed that a divine spirit would never have taken on a material body. The Da Vinci Code also portrays the Council of Nicaea's decision to recognize the fully human and divine aspects of Christ as being a close vote, while some authors dispute this.
  Literary criticism
  
  The novel has also attracted criticism in literary circles for its alleged lack of artistic or literary merit and its allegedly stereotyped portrayal of British and French characters.
  
  Salman Rushdie claimed during a lecture, "Do not start me on 'The Da Vinci Code,' A novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name."
  
  Stephen Fry has referred to Brown's writings as "complete loose stool-water" and "arse gravy of the worst kind." In a live chat on June 14, 2006, he clarified, "I just loathe all those book[s] about the Holy Grail and Masons and Catholic conspiracies and all that botty-dribble. I mean, there's so much more that's interesting and exciting in art and in history. It plays to the worst and laziest in humanity, the desire to think the worst of the past and the desire to feel superior to it in some fatuous way."
  
  In his 2005 University of Maine Commencement Address, best-selling author Stephen King put Dan Brown's work and "Jokes for the John" on the same level, calling such literature the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese." The New York Times, while reviewing the movie based on the book, called the book "Dan Brown's best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence". The New Yorker reviewer Anthony Lane refers to it as "unmitigated junk" and decries "the crumbling coarseness of the style." Linguist Geoffrey Pullum and others posted several entries critical of Dan Brown's writing, at Language Log, calling Brown one of the "worst prose stylists in the history of literature" and saying Brown's "writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad." Roger Ebert described it as a "potboiler written with little grace and style," although he did say it did "supply an intriguing plot." In his review of the film National Treasure, he wrote: "I should read a potboiler like The Da Vinci Code every once in a while, just to remind myself that life is too short to read books like The Da Vinci Code."
  Parodies
  
  2005
  
  The book was parodied by Adam Roberts with The Va Dinci Cod, and by Toby Clements with The Asti Spumante Code.
  
  A telemovie spin-off of the Australian television series Kath & Kim parodied the film version as Da Kath and Kim Code in late 2005.
  
  2006
  
  The BBC program Dead Ringers parodied the Da Vinci Code, calling it the Da Rolf Harris Code.
  
  Popular South African political cartoonist Zapiro published a book collection of his strips entitled Da Zuma Code, which parodies the former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
  
  2007
  
  The book was parodied in the South Park episode "Fantastic Easter Special" and Robert Rankin's novel The Da-da-de-da-da Code.
  
  The characters Lucy and Silas are parodied in the film Epic Movie. The movie starts with a scene similar to the opening of The Da Vinci Code, with Silas chasing the orphan Lucy, a parody of Sophie Neveu, in a museum. Throughout the movie, Silas speaks in Latin. However, the translations for his speech are intentionally false for the sake of parody (e.g. Silas says "Et tu, Brute?" to Aslo, when the film translates it as "I'm Rick James, bitch!").
  
  Szyfr Jana Matejki (Jan Matejko's Cipher) is a Polish parody by Dariusz Rekosz. Sequel Ko(s)miczna futryna: Szyfr Jana Matejki II (Co[s]mic Door-frame: Jan Matejko's Cipher II) was released in 2008. Main character is inspector Józef Świenty who tries to solve The Greatest Secret of Mankind (Największa Tajemnica Ludzkości) - parentage of Piast dynasty.
  
  The book was parodied in the American Dad episode "Black Mystery Month". But instead Stan searches for the controversial truth that Mary Todd Lincoln created peanut butter, not George Washington Carver.
  
  2008
  
  In 2008, it was parodied in the second series of That Mitchell and Webb Look as "The Numberwang Code", a trailer for a fictional film based on a recurring sketch on the show.
  
  Also in March 2008, the Irish blogger Twenty Major, parodied elements in his first book The Order of the Phoenix Park.
  Inspiration and influences
  
  The novel is part of the exploration of alternative religious history. Its principal source book is listed as per the court case, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation, as well as the books by Margaret Starbird. An earlier novel had already used the theme of a Jesus bloodline: The Dreamer of the Vine, by Liz Greene, published in 1980 (Richard Leigh's sister and Michael Baigent's girlfriend at that time). The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (which is explicitly named, among several others, at the beginning of chapter 60), was stated by Dan Brown not to be amongst his primary research material for the book.
  
  Having paid acknowledgement to the above books as sources of inspiration, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code contains the overriding salient point in its plot: that the Merovingian kings of France were descendants from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.
  
  In reference to Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent (two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail), Brown named the principal Grail expert of his story "Leigh Teabing" (an anagram of "Baigent Leigh"). Brown confirmed this during the court case. In reply to the suggestion that Lincoln was also referenced, as he has medical problems resulting in a severe limp, like the character of Leigh Teabing, Brown stated he was unaware of Lincoln's illness and the correspondence was a coincidence. After losing before the High Court in July 12, 2006, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Court of Appeal.
  
  Following the trial, it was found that the publicity had actually significantly boosted UK sales of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
  
  There are also some striking similarities to 1996 video game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.
  Release details
  
  The book has been translated into over 40 languages, primarily in hardcover. Alternate formats include audio cassette, CD, and e-book. Most recently, a Trade Paperback edition was released March 2006 in conjunction with the film.
  
  Major English-language (hardcover) editions include:
  
   * (US) The Da Vinci Code, April 2003 (First edition), Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50420-9.
   * The Da Vinci Code, Special Illustrated Edition, November 2, 2004, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-51375-5 (as of January 2006, has sold 576,000 copies).
   * (UK) The Da Vinci Code, April 2004, Corgi Adult. ISBN 0-552-14951-9.
   * (UK) The Da Vinci Code: The Illustrated Edition, October 2, 2004, Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05425-3.
   * (US/Canada) The Da Vinci Code (Trade Paperback edition), March 2006, Anchor Books.
   * On March 28, 2006, Anchor Books released 5 million paperback copies of the book, and Broadway Books released 200,000 paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition.
   * On May 19, the day of the film's release, Doubleday and Broadway Books released The Da Vinci Code Illustrated Screenplay: Behind the Scenes of the Major Motion Picture, by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with the introductions by Ron Howard and Dan Brown. It included film stills, behind-the-scenes photos and the full script. There were 25,000 copies of the hardcover, and 200,000 of the paperback version.
  
  Puzzles
  Book jacket
  
  Part of the advertising campaign for the novel was that the artwork in the American version of the bookjacket held various codes, and that the reader who solved them via the author's website would be given a prize. Several thousand people actually solved the codes, and one name was randomly chosen to be the winner, with the name announced on live television, Good Morning America, in early 2004. The prize was a trip to Paris.
  
  The five hidden puzzles reveal:
  
   * That the back of the book jacket conceals latitude and longitude coordinates, written in reverse, light red on dark red. Adding one degree to the latitude gives the coordinates of the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Northern Virginia, which is the location of a mysterious sculpture called Kryptos. The coordinates were taken from part of the decrypted text of part 2 of the sculpture (part 4 has never been solved). When Brown has been asked why the coordinates are one degree off, his reply has been, "The discrepancy is intentional".
   * Bold letters are present on the book jacket. There is a secret message hidden in the text of the book flaps. The message: Is there no help for the widow's son (a reference to Freemasonry).
   * The words "only WW knows" can be seen on the back cover. It is a phrase printed invertedly, in the torn part of the book cover. This too is a reference to part 2 of the Kryptos sculpture.
   * A circle with numbers, between the Doubleday logo and the barcode, reveals a secret message. These are the chapter numbers where the initial letters are arranged in Caesar box format, revealing the code "E Pluribus Unum".
   * There is reverse writing on the cover of the book, which is the riddle for the first cryptex.
  
  Brown, both via his website and in person, has stated that the puzzles in the bookjacket give hints about the subject of his next novel, The Lost Symbol. This repeats a theme from his earlier novels. For example, Deception Point had an encrypted message that, when solved, said, "The Da Vinci Code will surface".
  
  In the simplified Chinese version of The Da Vinci Code, the cover has a secret text; however, this text can be easily seen. It reads: "13-3-2-1-1-8-5 O, Draconian devil! Oh, Lame Saint! P.S. Find Robert Langdon." This is the multiply encrypted clue written in invisible ink next to the dead body in the museum, which kicks off the plot of the entire novel.
  Pages
  
  All of the puzzles listed below can be found within the page headers in the Mass Market US Paperback edition of The Da Vinci Code.
  
   * Page 60: "Ankh Fendile" (anagram of "knife handle") in place of "Dan Brown"
   * Page 95: "De Lancs" (anagram of "candles") in place of "Da Vinci"
   * Page 138: "Das Brilli" (anagram of "billiards") in place of "Dan Brown"
   * Page 141: "La Sufrete" (anagram of "true/false") in place of "Da Vinci"
   * Page 155: "sos" in place of page number
   * Page 192: "Reon Tigaldo" (anagram of "Golden Ratio") in place of "Dan Brown"
   * Page 217: "De Ysosy" (anagram of "odyssey") in place of "Da Vinci"
   * Page 262: "Mer Reve" (anagram of "Vermeer") in place of "Dan Brown"
   * Page 322: page number replaced by three asterisks
  
  Also in the body text on page 138, the word "numbers" in the sentence "Tearing it open, she found four Paris phone numbers" is printed in a bold medieval typeface, instead of the typical serif typeface used throughout the rest of the book.
  Film
  
  Columbia Pictures adapted the novel to film, with a screenplay written by Akiva Goldsman, and Academy Award winner Ron Howard directing. The film was released on May 19, 2006, and stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, and Sir Ian McKellen as Leigh Teabing. The film had an opening weekend gross of $77,073,388 and grossed $217,536,138 in 2006, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 2006. The film did very well overseas, grossing over $758,239,852 worldwide. On November 14, 2006 the movie was released on DVD.
楔子
  巴黎卢浮宫美术博物馆,夜10时46分。 卢浮宫拱形艺术大画廊内,德高望重的博物馆馆长雅克。索尼埃跌跌撞撞地扑向他所见到的离他最近的一幅画--一幅卡拉瓦乔的画作。这位七十五岁的老人猛地抓住镀金的画框,用力把它拉向自己。画框终于从墙上扯了下来,索尼埃向后摔作一团,被盖在帆布油画的下面。
   果然不出馆长所料,附近的一扇铁门轰然倒下,封住了通往画廊的入口。嵌木拼花地板震颤着。远处响起了报警声。
   馆长在地上躺了片刻,喘着粗气,四下看了看。我还活着。他从画底下爬了出来,在这洞穴般幽暗的地方四处觑视着,想找个藏身的地方。
   一个阴森森的声音从不远处传来:"不许动!"
   馆长双手撑着地,跪在那里,呆若木鸡,好半天才转过头去。
   在封闭的门外,仅十五英尺远的地方,侧影高大的攻击者正透过门上的铁栏杆盯着里面。他身板宽大,个子很高,面无血色,一头稀疏的白发。他眼睛虹膜呈粉红色,瞳孔为暗红色,看去是个白化病人。他从外套中拔出手枪,将枪管透过铁栏杆瞄准了馆长。"你本不应该跑。"听不出他是哪里口音。"这回该告诉我那东西在哪里了吧?"
   "我已跟你说过--我,我不明白你在说什么。"馆长无助地跪在地上,结结巴巴地说道。 "你在撒谎。"那人死勾勾地盯着他,身子一动也不动,只有那幽灵般的眼睛轱辘辘地转个不停。"你和你的弟兄们占有了不属于你们的东西。" 馆长猛地一惊。他怎么会知道这些。
   "今夜它将物归其主。要想活命,就乖乖地告诉我那东在啥地方。"那人把枪对准了馆长的头。"你想为了这个秘密而送命吗?"
   索尼埃吓得连气都不敢喘。 那人歪着头,目光沿着枪管望下去。
   索尼埃终于举起手告饶了。"等一等。"他慢吞吞地说:"我告诉你这一切。"接下去的话馆长讲得非常谨慎。这是他事先操练了许多遍的谎言,每次都祈祷着永远不要用上这套谎言。
   馆长说完后,袭击他的那人得意地笑了。
   "不错。跟其他人讲的一模一样。"
   其他人?馆长心猛地一缩。
   "我也找到了他们,三个都找到了。他们证实了你刚才所讲的话。"那大个子嘲笑道。 这不可能!馆长和他的三个主事的真实身份就如同他们所保护的那个古老的秘密一样神圣。索尼埃现在知道他的同伴都严格遵循程序,在死前都说了同样的谎言。这是一个约定。
   那攻击者再次举枪瞄准。"你完蛋后,我就是唯一知道秘密的人。"
   馆长立即意识到了真正可怕的情形:如果我死了,真情将永远无人知晓。他本能地想抓些东西盖住自己。
   枪响了,馆长感到钻心地灼热,因为子弹停在他的肚腹之中。他扑倒在地,痛苦地挣扎着,接着缓缓地翻过身,透过栅栏盯着攻击者。 那人瞄准了索尼埃的头,这一枪会让他立即毙命。
   索尼埃闭上眼睛,脑子一片混乱,极度恐惧和懊悔。 空弹膛的咔嚓声在长廊里回响。 馆长猛地睁开了眼睛。 那人扫了一眼自己的武器,几乎被逗乐了。他伸手去取另一只弹夹,但似乎想了想后,又对着索尼埃的肚子得意地冷笑道:"反正这家伙也活不成了。"
   馆长向下望去,他看到自己白色亚麻衬衫上的枪眼。枪眼在胸骨下方几英寸的地方,四周都是血。我的腹部!够残酷的,子弹没打中他的心脏。作为一名阿尔及利亚战争的老兵,馆长以前目睹过这种可怕的被延缓的死亡。他还能活十五分钟,因为胃酸正渗入他的胸腔,他将从内部中毒而死。
   "疼痛对人有好处,先生。"那人道。 然后他离开了。
   现在只有雅克。索尼埃一个人了。他转过头再次盯着铁门。他被困在里面了,至少二十分钟内门是无法再打开的。等到有人来到他身旁时,他早就没命了。然而,现在令他更恐惧的倒不是死。
   我必须把这个秘密传下去。
   他摇摇晃晃地站起来,被谋害的三位兄弟的形象浮现在他脑海里。他想到了他们的先辈们,想到了他们被委托的重任。
   一个环环相扣的守秘者链条。 尽管有所有的预防措施……,尽管有确保万无一失的方案,雅克。索尼埃现在突然成了唯一存在的一环,成了多年来保守的秘密中的那个最重要的秘密的守护者。
   他颤栗着,站了起来。 我必须想出办法来……
   他被困在艺术大画廊里,在这个世界只有一个人可以接过他传递的火炬。索尼埃凝望着这大牢的墙壁,一组世界名画像好朋友似的朝他微笑着。
   他在痛苦地抽搐,但他还是竭力稳住自己。他知道眼前这令他孤注一掷的任务,需要他抓住余下生命的每一秒钟。
第一章
  罗伯特。兰登慢慢醒来。
   黑暗中电话铃响了起来--一种微弱的、不熟悉的响声。他伸手去摸床头灯,把灯打开。他眯着眼打量了一下环境,发现这是一间文艺复兴风格的豪华卧室,路易十六世的家俱,装饰有手工壁面的墙面,还有一张宽大的四柱红木床。
   我到底是在什么地方?
   挂在床柱上提花浴衣上写着:巴黎里茨酒店。
   雾在慢慢散去。
   兰登拿起听筒。"您好!"
   "兰登先生吗?"一个男人的声音问道:"但愿我没有吵醒您!"
   他睡眼惺忪地看了看床边的钟。午夜12时32分。他刚睡了一个小时,但感觉如昏死过去一般。
   "我是酒店门房接待员,先生。打扰您了,很抱歉,但是有位客人要见您。他非坚持说事情非常紧急。"
   兰登还是丈二和尚摸不着头脑。客人?这时他的目光汇聚到床头柜上一页皱皱巴巴的宣传单:巴黎美国大学 将举办一场学术晚会 哈佛大学宗教符号学教授 罗伯特。兰登将莅临赐教兰登哼了一声。今晚的报告-一幅有关隐藏于沙特尔大教堂基石上的异教符号幻灯片很可能呛了哪位保守听众的肺管了。极有可能是有宗教学者上门找碴儿来了。
   "对不起,我累了,而且……"兰登说。
   "可是,先生。"接待员赶紧打断了他,压低了声音,急迫地耳语道:"您的客人是位重要人物。"
   毫无疑问,他的那些关于宗教绘画和邪教符号学的书使他不太情愿地成了艺术圈子里的名人。去年他与一个在梵蒂冈的广为流传的事件有牵连,此后他露面的频率提高了上百倍。打那以后,自认为了不起的历史学家和艺术迷们便似乎源源不断地涌向他家门口。
   兰登尽量保持礼貌的言语:"麻烦您记下那人的姓名和电话号码,告诉他我在周二离开巴黎前会给他打电话的。谢谢。"接待员还没来得及回话,他便挂上了电话。
   兰登坐了起来,对着旁边的客人关系手册蹙着眉头。手册封面上自吹自擂地写道:如婴儿般沉睡在灯火辉煌的城市,酣睡在巴黎里茨。他转过头疲倦地凝视着对面的大镜子。回望着他的是个陌生人,头发乱蓬蓬的,疲惫不堪。
   你需要休假,罗伯特。
   去年他可损失惨重,憔悴了许多。但他不愿意在镜子里得到证明。他本来锐利的眼睛今晚看起来模糊呆滞。硕大干瘪的下巴上满是黑黑的胡茬儿。在太阳穴周围,花白的毛发显得一天比一天多,正深深地钻进他那浓密的又粗又黑的头发中。虽然他的女同事们一直说花白的头发使他显得更儒雅,可兰登不那么想。
   幸亏波士顿杂志不是现在采访的我。
   颇使兰登感到尴尬的是,上个月波士顿杂志把他列进该市十大最引人注目的人,--莫名其妙的荣誉使他不断成为哈佛同事们的首当其冲调笑的对象。
   今晚在离家三千英里的地方,他作报告时,那种赞扬再度出现令他惴惴不安。
   女主持人向巴黎美国大学的妃子亭里满满一屋子人宣布道:"女士们,先生们,我们今晚的客人不需要介绍。他写了好多本书,如:《秘密教派符号学》、《光照派的艺术》和《表意符号语言的遗失》等。我说他写了《宗教符号学》一书,其实我也只是知道书名,你们许多人上课都用他的书。"
   人群中的学生们拼命点头。
   "我本打算通过与大家分享他不凡的履历来介绍他,然而……",她以调侃的眼神瞥了一眼坐在台上的兰登。"一位听众刚递给我一个……什么呢?……可以说是更有趣的介绍。"
   她举起了一本波士顿杂志。
   兰登缩了缩身子。她到底从哪搞到的那玩意?
   女主持人开始从那篇空洞的文章中有选择地朗读已选取的片断。兰登感到自己在椅子上越陷越深。三十秒钟后,人们龇着牙笑了起来,而那女人还没有停下来的意思。"兰登先生拒绝公开谈及去年他在梵蒂冈秘密会议上所起的非凡作用,这使人们对他越发产生了兴趣。"女主持人进一步挑逗听众说:"大家想不想多听一些?"
   大家一齐鼓掌。
   但愿能有人让她停下来。兰登默默祈祷道。但她又继续念那篇文章。
   "虽然兰登教授可能不像有些年轻的崇拜者认为的那样风流倜傥,可这位四十几岁学者却拥有他这个年龄不多见的学术魅力。他只要露面就能吸引许多人,而他那极低的男中音更是使他魅力大增,他的女学生把他的声音描述为"供耳朵享用的巧克力。"大厅内爆发出一阵大笑。
   兰登有些尴尬,只能强装笑脸。他知道她马上又会说出"哈里森。福特穿着哈里斯花格尼"这样不着边际的句话,因为他穿着哈里斯花格尼裤子和博贝利高领绒衣。他原以为今晚终于可以安全地这么穿而不致惹出那样荒谬的说法来。他决定采取措施。
   "谢谢您,莫尼卡。"兰登提前站了起来,并把女主持挤下讲台。"波士顿杂志显然非常会编故事。"他转向听众并发出了窘迫的叹息声。"如果我知道你们谁提供了那篇文章,我就请领事把他驱逐出境。"
   听众又大笑起来。
   "好喽,伙计们,你们知道,我今晚到这儿是要谈谈符号的重要作用。"
   兰登房间的电话铃再一次打破沉寂。
   他拿起电话,迟疑地咕哝道:"喂!"
   不出所料,正是门房接待员。"兰登先生,真抱歉,又打扰您。我打电话是想告诉您,您的客人正在去您房间的路上,我想我应该提醒您一下。"
   兰登现在一点睡意也没有了。"是你把那个人打发到我房间的?"
   "抱歉,先生,但像他这样的人……,我想我不敢冒昧地阻止他。"
   "到底是谁?"
   但是门房接待员已挂断了电话。
   话音未落,已有人用拳头重重地敲门。
   兰登感到一阵不安。他匆忙下床,感到脚趾头深深地陷到地上的萨伏纳里地毯里。他穿上酒店提供的睡衣朝门口走去。"哪一位?"
   "兰登先生吗?我需要和您谈谈。"对方以尖利的、颇具权威的口吻大声喊道。他说英语有很重的口音。"我是中央司法部的杰罗姆。科莱上尉。"
   兰登怔了一下。司法?这大致相当于美国的联邦调查局。
   把安全链放好后,兰登把门开了几英寸宽的小缝。盯着他望的那个人的脸削瘦而苍白。那人极瘦,身着蓝,看样子像个当官的。
   "我可以进来吗?"那特工问道。
   那陌生人灰黄的眼睛打量着兰登,使他感到局促不安。"到底是怎么回事?"
   "我们的警务局长在一件私事上需要您发挥一下您的专长。"
   "现在吗?深更半夜的。"兰登挤出一句话来。
   "你本打算今晚和卢浮宫博物馆长会面的,是吧?"
   兰登突然感到一阵不安。他和那位德高望重的博物馆长雅克。索尼埃本来约定在今晚的报告后见一面,小酌一番,可索尼埃根本就没露面。"你怎么知道的。"
   "我们在他的‘每日计划’中看到了你的名字。"
   "但愿没出什么乱子。"
   特工沉重地叹了一口气,从窄窄的门缝里塞进一张宝丽莱快照。
   看了照片,兰登浑身都僵住了。
   "照片是不足半小时前拍的--在卢浮宫内拍的。"
   凝望这奇怪的照片,他先是感受到恶心和震惊,继而感到怒不可遏。
   "谁竟然干出这种事!"
   "鉴于你是符号学方面的专家,且你原打算见他,我们希望你能帮助我们回答这个问题。"
   兰登看着照片,既恐惧又担心。那景象奇怪得让人不寒而栗,他有一种不安的,似曾相识的感觉。一年多以前兰登也看到过一具尸体的照片,也遇到了类似的求助。二十四小时后,他险些在梵蒂冈城丧了命。这幅照片和那幅完全不同,但情景却是那样相似,使人不安。
   特工看了看表说:"我们局长正在等您,先生。"
   兰登没太听清他说什么。他的眼睛还在盯着那张照片。"这个符号,尸体如此奇怪地……"
   "放置。"特工接着说道。 兰登点了点头,又抬起头来,感觉到有一股逼人的寒气袭来。"这是谁竟会对人干出这等事来。"
   特工似乎面无表情。"您不知道,兰登先生,你在照片上看到的……",他顿了顿说道。"那是索尼埃先生自己干的。"
Home>> Culture & Life>> 故事演绎>> Dan Brown   United States   现代美国   (June 22, 1964 AD)