"in their victims. ""The Last Supper"" has been the target of much speculation by writers and historical revisionists alike, usually centered on purported hidden messages or hints found within the painting, especially since the publication of the novel ""The Da Vinci Code"" by Dan Brown in 2003. Dan Brown proposed that the person to Jesus' right (left of Jesus from the viewer's perspective) is actually Mary Magdalene disguised as the Apostle John, being mirror images of one another. It also states that there was a letter ‘glaring in the center of the painting’ (M) standing for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene."
"Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller novels, most notably the Robert Langdon stories, ""Angels & Demons"" (2000), ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003), ""The Lost Symbol"" (2009), ""Inferno"" (2013) and ""Origin"" (2017). His novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, art, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 56 languages, and as of 2012, sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, ""Angels & Demons"" (2000), ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003) and ""Inferno"" (2013) have been adapted into"
"of the Year Award for his satirical ""In The News"" column. He also wrote for, among others, ""The Independent"", ""The Guardian"", ""The Evening Standard"", ""The Daily Telegraph"", ""The Spectator"", ""Cosmopolitan"" and CNN.com. On 31 May 2012 Paul died suddenly after suffering a ruptured aneurysm. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Paul Sussman Paul Nicholas Sussman (11 July 1966 in Beaconsfield – 31 May 2012 in London) was a best-selling English author, archaeologist and journalist. His novels have been described as ""the intelligent reader's answer to ""The Da Vinci Code"""" by ""The Independent"". Paul Sussman was the only"
"Dan Brown, the author of ""The Da Vinci Code"", named ""The Doomsday Conspiracy"" as the book that inspired him to write thriller fiction, citing its ""simplicity of the prose and efficiency of the storyline"". About the Author: Sidney Sheldon is mainly Science-fiction and thriller writing novelist. The Doomsday Conspiracy The Doomsday Conspiracy is a thriller novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon published in 1991. The story concerns an American naval officer who encounters a murderous and mysterious force and actions during an investigation in a balloon accident in the Swiss Alps. The story begins with a swiss tour bus on"
"debut of 91,000 copies. Inferno sold more than 6 million copies worldwide to date. Inferno (Brown novel) Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his ""Robert Langdon"" series, following ""Angels & Demons"", ""The Da Vinci Code"" and ""The Lost Symbol"". The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003), by Doubleday. It was number one on the ""New York Times"" Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and"
"films. Brown's novels that feature the lead character, Langdon, also include historical themes and Christianity as motifs, and have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey' himself, and says that his book ""The Da Vinci Code"" is simply ""an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate"" and suggests that the book may be used ""as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith"". Dan Gerhard Brown was born on June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He has a younger sister, Valerie (born"
"wrote his first novel, set around the Normandy landings, when he was a young geography lecturer at the University of Rouen, but it was rejected by several publishing houses. He then wrote short stories, but they too were rejected. Ten years later, inspired by a trip to Rome at the peak of popularity of Dan Brown's ""The Da Vinci Code"", and back in Rouen with his IGN papers, after reading a centenary edition of ""Arsène Lupin"" by Maurice Leblanc he resumed work on his manuscript until in 2006, as ""Code Lupin"", it found an academic publisher, Éditions des Falaises. The"
"Inferno (Brown novel) Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his ""Robert Langdon"" series, following ""Angels & Demons"", ""The Da Vinci Code"" and ""The Lost Symbol"". The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003), by Doubleday. It was number one on the ""New York Times"" Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and also remained on the list of E-book fiction for the first seventeen weeks of"
"little success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings. His fourth novel, ""The Da Vinci Code"", became a bestseller, going to the top of the ""New York Times"" Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003. It is one of the most popular books of all time, with 81 million copies sold worldwide as of 2009. Its success has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books. In 2004 all four of his novels were on the ""New York Times"" list in the same week, and, in 2005, he made ""Time"" magazine's list of"
"The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci (, ""Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci"", in literal translation) is the second novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky, first published in 1900 by ""Mir Bozhy"" magazine, then released as a separate edition 1901. The novel constitutes the second part of the Christ and Antichrist trilogy (1895-1907), started by the writer's debut novel ""The Death of the Gods"". Merezhkovsky started working upon the second novel right after the first one, ""The Death of Gods"", was finished, submerging himself in studying the history of Renaissance. By this time he had the vision"
"cited to show that the enigma predates Abbé Saunière). The village received up to around 100,000 tourists each year at the height of popularity of Dan Brown's bestselling novel ""The Da Vinci Code"". The modern reputation of Rennes-le-Château rises mainly from claims and stories dating from the mid-1950s concerning the local 19th-century priest Father Bérenger Saunière. These stories influenced the authors of the worldwide bestseller ""The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail"" in 1982, and that work in turn influenced Dan Brown when he wrote ""The Da Vinci Code"", published in 2003. The first known popular article about Father Bérenger"
"US$2 million (US$30,000 is typical for a first novel from an unknown author). ""Publishers Weekly"" explained the high price as a bidding war between firms believing that they might have the next ""Da Vinci Code"" within their grasp. One vice-president and associate publisher said ""Given the success of The Da Vinci Code, everybody around town knows how popular the combination of thriller and history can be and what a phenomenon it can become."" Little, Brown, and Co. subsequently sold the rights in 28 countries. The book was published in the United States on 14 June 2005. The novel blends the"
"Robert Langdon Professor Robert Langdon is a fictional character created by author Dan Brown for his ""Robert Langdon"" book series: ""Angels & Demons"" (2000), ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003), ""The Lost Symbol"" (2009), ""Inferno"" (2013) and ""Origin"" (2017). He is a Harvard University professor of history of art and ""symbology"" (a fictional field related to the study of historic symbols, which is not methodologically connected to the actual discipline of semiotics). Tom Hanks portrays Langdon in the ""Robert Langdon"" film series, starting with the 2006 film adaptation of ""The Da Vinci Code"", reprising the role in the 2009 film adaptation"
"The Fifth Gospel The Fifth Gospel (""Das fünfte Evangelium""), first published in Germany in 1993, is a novel by Philipp Vandenberg. The book deals with the discovery of a Coptic parchment that contains a gospel written by the son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The book was made famous by Dan Brown in his novel ""The Da Vinci Code"", which was written 10 years later. Donovan Joyce's novel ""The Jesus Scroll"", first published in 1972, proposes that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that at least one child was born of this union. In 1982, this hypothesis was advanced again in"
"Codex Leicester The Codex Leicester (also briefly known as Codex Hammer) is a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex is named after Thomas Coke, later created Earl of Leicester, who purchased it in 1719. The manuscript currently holds the record for the second highest sale price of any book, as it was sold to Bill Gates at Christie's auction house on 11 November 1994 in New York for (). The Codex provides an insight into the inquiring mind of the definitive Renaissance artist, scientist and thinker as well as an exceptional illustration of the link between"
"Robert Langdon (film series) The Robert Langdon films are a series of American mystery thriller movies directed by Ron Howard. The films focus on Robert Langdon, a fictional character appearing in the Robert Langdon (book series) by author Dan Brown. The film series has a different chronological order than the novels, and consists of ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2006), ""Angels & Demons"" (2009) and ""Inferno"" (2016). The series has grossed almost $1.5 billion worldwide. Dan Brown’s novels about Professor Robert Langdon: ""Angels & Demons"" (2000), ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2003), and ""Inferno"" (2013), quickly became international bestsellers, and were soon"
"is mentioned numerous times in many books about Rennes-le-Chateau, famous now also because of Dan Brown's novel ""The Da Vinci Code"". Subsequently, the author Kate Mosse set the larger part of her 2007 novel ""Sepulchre"" in the immediate vicinity. Abbé Henri Boudet was the parish priest of Rennes-les-Bains at the same time that Bérenger Saunière was the incumbent of Rennes-le-Château. Boudet's strange book, ""La vraie langue celtique et le cromleck de Rennes-les-Bains"" (1886) argued that all languages were derived from the English tongue whereby the Abbé tried to establish his theory through the use of puns. In 1832 a book"
"in ""The Da Vinci Code"". On April 11, 2005, novelist Lewis Perdue sued Brown and his publisher Random House for plagiarizing his novels ""The Da Vinci Legacy"" (1983) and ""Daughter of God"" (1999), claiming ""there are far too many parallels between my books and ""The Da Vinci Code"" for it to be an accident."" On August 4, 2005, District Judge George B. Daniels granted a motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit, ruling that ""a reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that ""The Da Vinci Code"" is substantially similar to ""Daughter of God."" Any slightly similar elements are"
"Da Vinci Code"". Lincoln was born in London in 1930 and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Under his original name of Henry Soskin, he worked as both screenwriter and supporting actor. In 1964 he wrote one of the episodes of ""The Barnstormers"" (Associated-Rediffusion), as well as starring in two of the episodes. Lincoln also appeared in other television series such as ""The Avengers"" (1961, 1963), ""The Saint"" (1967), ""Man in a Suitcase"" (1968), and ""The Champions"" (1969); as well as in the 1968 film ""Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River"". He was co-writer, with Mervyn"
"2002, Khoury began researching and writing the novelized version of his screenplay, which took three years to write. The novel sold quickly, and was first released in the UK in 2005. It soon became a ""New York Times"" Bestseller, spending 11 weeks on the hardcover fiction list, and a Number 1 bestseller overseas. It has been translated into thirty-eight languages and published in over forty countries. Although the book shares some general thematic concepts with those of ""Da Vinci Code"" author Dan Brown, Khoury devised his plot before Brown's novels were released. Following the release of ""The Sanctuary"" in August"
"Tom Egeland Tom Egeland (born 8 July 1959 in Oslo) is a Norwegian author. His great-grandfather was Jon Flatabø from Kvam in Hardanger, one of the pioneer authors of popular literature in Norway. Egeland's novels are published in 24 languages. His most famous novel is ""Sirkelens ende"", published in English under the title ""Relic"", which deals with several of the same topics as ""The Da Vinci Code"". Egeland's book was published in 2001, two years before ""The Da Vinci Code"". European readers and critics quickly noted some striking similarities between the ""Da Vinci Code"" and ""Relic"". Like ""The Da Vinci"
"In recent years, Opus Dei has received international attention due to the novel ""The Da Vinci Code"" and its film version of 2006, both of which prominent Christians and non-believers criticized as misleading, inaccurate and anti-Catholic. Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski sometimes refer to Opus Dei as a ""Catholic"", ""christian"", or ""white"" form of Freemasonry. According to several journalists who have worked independently on Opus Dei, such as John Allen, Jr., Vittorio Messori, Patrice de Plunkett, Maggy Whitehouse, Noam Friedlander many of the criticisms against Opus Dei are myths and unproven tales. Allen, Messori, and Plunkett say that"
"himself. In the book series, Langdon is himself an author of six (fictional) books: In the real book ""The Lost Symbol"" on page 8, a minor character, Pam, refers to the (fictional) ""Symbols of the Lost Sacred Feminine"" as creating 'a delicious scandal'. The series has sold over 120 million copies. The novels were a success around the world and became bestsellers, and soon adapted into films in which Ron Howard directed and produced 3 of 5 novels: ""The Da Vinci Code"" (2006), ""Angels & Demons"" (2009), and ""Inferno"" (2016), with Tom Hanks portrayed the lead character, Professor Robert Langdon,"
"a collection of ancient books. Brown's prose style has been criticized as clumsy, with ""The Da Vinci Code"" being described as 'committing style and word choice blunders in almost every paragraph'. Much of the criticism was centered on Brown's claim found in its preface that the novel is based on fact in relation to Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion, and that ""all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in [the] novel are accurate"". In 2006, Brown's novel ""The Da Vinci Code"" was released as a film by Columbia Pictures, with director Ron Howard. It was widely"
"is essentially a text which proceeds by innuendo, not by refutable scholarly debate"". Some of the ideas presented in ""The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail"", were incorporated in the best-selling American novel ""The Da Vinci Code"", by Dan Brown. In March 2006, Baigent and Leigh filed a lawsuit in a British court against Brown's publisher, Random House, claiming copyright infringement. On 7 April, High Court judge Peter Smith rejected the copyright-infringement claim, and Brown won the court case. Lincoln was not involved in the proceedings, reportedly due to illness. However, in the Channel Five documentary (10 May 2006) ""Revealed..."
"Times"" Bestseller list. An international success, it has since been published in more than twenty-five languages and over forty countries. Dan Brown published ""The Da Vinci Code"" in 2003, and its success may have influenced the renaming of Cordy's first three novels. In spite of publishing six years earlier, he has been criticised of imitating Dan Brown. Michael Cordy lives in London with Jenny, his wife, and their daughter, Phoebe. Currently, he is working under contract on his first screenplay, ""Crime Zero"", having recently sold the film rights option to a subsidiary of Warner Bros.""New line Cinema"". Cordy is the"
"described by the jury as ""a remarkable anti-structure ... a symbolic use of technology ... a piece of sculpture. It was meant as an object but it is an object to transmit light."" The ""Inverted Pyramid"" figures prominently on the concluding pages of Dan Brown's international bestseller ""The Da Vinci Code"". The protagonist of his novel, Robert Langdon, reads esoteric symbolism into the two pyramids: The ""Inverted Pyramid"" is perceived as a Chalice, a feminine symbol, whereas the stone pyramid below is interpreted as a Blade, a masculine symbol: the whole structure could thus express the union of the sexes."
"just to remind myself that life is too short to read books like ""The Da Vinci Code""."" 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 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"
"(p. 200). In the inner compartment of the cryptex, secret information can be hidden, written on a scroll of thin papyrus wrapped around a fragile vial of vinegar as a security measure: if one does not know the password but tries to force the cryptex open, the vial will break and the vinegar will dissolve the papyrus before it can be read. Cryptex The word cryptex is a neologism coined by the author Dan Brown for his 2003 novel ""The Da Vinci Code"", denoting a portable vault used to hide secret messages. It is a word formed from Greek ""kryptós"","
"Secrets of the Code Secrets of the Code is a 2006 documentary based on Dan Burstein's ""New York Times"" best-seller of the same name in which experts explore topics put forth by Dan Brown's novel ""The Da Vinci Code"". ""New Yorker"" essayist Arthur Krystal assisted Burstein in writing of the film, which was directed by Emmy Award winner Jonathan Stack, produced by Alchemist Films, LLC and distributed by Sony Pictures. The film is narrated by actress Susan Sarandon, with commentary by religious experts and authors Timothy Freke, Richard Leigh, Sean Martin and Elaine Pagels. The film has been described as"
"""Erceldoune & Other Stories"" (2006), and ""Grey Magic"" (2007). Some of the ideas presented in Baigent's earlier book ""The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail"", were incorporated in the best-selling American novel ""The Da Vinci Code"", by Dan Brown. In March 2006, Baigent and Leigh filed suit in a British court against Brown's publisher, Random House, claiming copyright infringement. On 7 April 2006 High Court judge Peter Smith rejected the claim. On 28 March 2007, Baigent and Leigh lost their appeal, and were faced with legal bills of about £3m. Leigh died on 21 November 2007 in London from causes"
"the most popular of which was ""The Da Vinci Code"", have incorporated elements of Bible conspiracy theories to flesh out their storylines, rather than to push these theories as actual suggestions. Some proponents of the Jesus-myth or Christ-myth theory consider that the whole of Christianity is a conspiracy. American author Acharya S (Dorothy Murdock) in ""The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold"" (1999) argues that Jesus and Christianity were created by members of various secret societies, mystery schools and religions to unify the Roman Empire under one state religion, and that these people drew on numerous myths and rituals"
"Smithy code The Smithy code is a series of letters embedded, as a private amusement, within the April 2006 approved judgement of Mr Justice Peter Smith on ""The Da Vinci Code"" copyright case. It was first broken by Dan Tench, a lawyer who writes on media issues for ""The Guardian"", after he received a series of email clues about it from Justice Smith. The letters in question are part of the actual text of the judgement, but italicised in contrast to the rest of the text. The following sequence of unusually italicised letters can be extracted from the judgement document:"