Secrets behind 'The Da Vinci Code'

At the heart of the mystery unraveled in “The Da Vinci Code” lies the enigmatic figure of Mary Magdalene. For centuries she was dismissed as a reformed prostitute, but Dan Rrown re-imagines her as a powerful figure who not only followed—but married—Jesus of Nazareth. 

And the book also implies that there’s more to her story than that—a truth so startling that it could rock the very foundations of Christianity. Again, the novel says the answer is hidden all around us.

One set of clues brings us to a sleepy village along the Mediterranean coast of France.

There is a legend there that is said to reveal the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It is the place where an oarless boat full of refugees from the Holy Land washed ashore not long after Jesus was crucified.

Margaret Starbird, author: They landed on the coast of France and brought with them the Holy Grail.

Among those onboard was Mary Magdalene, who, the legend says, settled there and raised a daughter named Sarah.

Starbird: She's pre-adolescent in 42 AD, which means she's between 9 and 12 years old in 42 AD. And so the timing is right in the legend.

But in “The Da Vinci Code,” Sarah is no mere legend. She exists and her lineage is the most astonishing revelation of the story. Sarah, the novel proclaims, is the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This, the book says, is the true secret of the Holy Grail: That Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene produced a child, a little girl, who grew up in the South of France. According to the legend, Sarah bore children of her own, carrying on her father's bloodline. It flowed through generations, eventually reaching the French royal family, and from there, the rest of the world.  

There is, of course, no birth certificate, or entry in some ancient ledger telling of Sarah's arrival or who her parents might have been. For clues, the book once again leads us right back to Leonardo DaVinci and the Last Supper. It is one of many renaissance depictions of Jesus and his Apostles sharing Passover on the night before his crucifixion.

But Leonardo's version leaves out an important icon. Jesus' chalice, the legendary Holy Grail, is missing.  And according to “The Da Vinci Code,” its absence is no mistake. It's just another clue leading us to the truth about Mary Magdalene.

The book says the painting literally spells it out. First, there's that "M" which could stand for "Magdalene" or "marriage." Then, there's another clue found by tracing the line formed by the central figures -- a "V,” the shape of the missing chalice and the ancient symbol for female fertility, conjuring the image of a mother's womb.

And so, the book concludes, Da Vinci is trying to tell us that Mary Magdalene was the "holy vessel" who carried "the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ" by bearing his child.

Starbird: And probably a girl child since the vessel, the shape, the cup is actually a feminine symbol.

But why would Leonardo bury these symbols in his masterpiece?

Stone Phillips: The book depicts Leonardo Da Vinci as a subversive slipping hidden messages into his art.

David Nolta, art historian: Uh-huh.

Phillips: The artist's eccentricities projected an admittedly demonic aura.

Nolta: He was a man of a considerable range of activities, certainly.

Leonardo's activities, according to “The Da Vinci Code,” included leading a secret brotherhood, a group entrusted with protecting the truth about Jesus, Mary and their child -- The Priory of Sion.

Richard Leigh, co-author "Holy Blood, Holy Grail": The original Priory of Sion was established in 1099 by the Crusaders after Jerusalem fell.

You won't find the Priory of Sion mentioned in any conventional biography of Leonardo DaVinci, but the book says that for proof of his membership, all you have to do is look in the French National Library at a collection of papers called the Secret Documents or Dossiers Secret.

Leigh: Dossiers Secret are documents deposited anonymously in the Bibliotheque Nationale.

Richard Leigh was among the first to evaluate the documents which were, in fact, discovered in the library in the 1970s. The documents include a directory of leaders, called grand masters, men whose mission, Leigh says, was to hide the secret of the bloodline, then pass it down through the ages.

Leigh: Leonardo appears on the list of grand masters. There's no question that he was also connected with the figures who immediately proceed and immediately follow him on the list.

The list opens with obscure French noblemen, but goes on to read like the contents table of an introductory course to Western civilization.

Leigh: Obviously when we first saw the names, names like Leonardo, Botticelli, Newton, we were skeptical. On the other hand if you wanted to concoct a list of illustrious figures, why include so many non-entities? And why not bring in more? Why not have Goethe on the list for example? Why not have Shakespeare?

A generation ago, Leigh poured over these enigmatic papers, matching them point by point to documented French history and local legends -- including the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and a girl named Sarah. It all points, he says, towards a cataclysmic possibility.

Leigh: That there were progeny or at least one child from this union and that a bloodline continued.

Could these cryptic documents reveal some ancient knowledge and could they hold the key to finding the heirs of Jesus living among us today?

MORE FROM DATELINE

Dateline Section Front

Mystery of the missing millionaire Armed and victimized: Congo's child soldiers Serbia's mental institutions a relic of the past The devil's business Inside our border's first line of defense Deadly intentions Murder on the mind Death and the millionaire drifter 10 most amazing rescues caught on tape The stripper and the steelworker Dateline Section Front   Add Dateline headlines to your news reader: