Hunting the Lost Symbol Page #2

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resembles the legendary

"Hand of the Mysteries" ...

a kind of invitation or key

to the understanding of ancient wisdom.

And that icon actually exists.

Its origins date back presumably

the period of the biblical King Solomon ...

when a hand was extended

every newcomer ...

they entered

in his temple of wisdom.

The legend also says that the hand had

the power to resurrect the dead ...

if the cryptic tattoos

be deciphered.

But is that the hand has something to do

with the Masons?

Or is it just a clever ruse

used by the villain of the book?

The "Hand of the Mysteries"

was bizarre.

I did not see any relationship

between the "Hand of the Mysteries" ...

and the Masonic rituals I read

and I know.

It was ...

a poetic license.

In the book, where the hand points

is that it is confusing ...

the mural on the inside

the dome of the Capitol.

The Italian artist Constantino Brumidi

painted the fresco in 1865 ...

and is known

as the deification of Washington.

It features George Washington

as if God ...

and surrounded by classical figures ...

the Goddess Liberty on the left

Independence and the goddess on the right.

Between the two goddesses, there are 13 virgins

with 13 stars on them ...

representing the 13 colonies.

Among these goddesses,

are the scientists of the time ...

including Benjamin Franklin,

receiving the wisdom of the gods.

An American president

becoming a god.

That was the original intent

painting?

Or the book offers

his own interpretation?

Dan Brown feels the painting ...

as a symbol of belief

in human potential.

It imposes its own meaning for

serve his literary purposes ...

and that's why they call

fiction!

But history is replete

examples of leaders ...

becoming more than mere mortals

before the people.

Well, there was a tendency to transform

heroes into gods ...

then, was not new. There was

other heroes who became gods.

There have been attempts to make

Alexander the Great, a god ...

or a

these other famous people.

So maybe the painting

represents only ...

God's reputation that Washington

was among the Americans at the time.

But the same can not be said

on the figures that surround him.

He is accompanied

of 13 virgins ...

and, of course, that there is a tale

behind it.

The artist, Brumidi, went out and found

ladies of the night to pose as virgins.

Professor Brown's

left that part out of its history.

But Professor Langdon talks

another controversial work of art ...

which is in the Rotunda.

A half--naked sculpture of George

Washington as the Greek god Zeus.

It's true.

It implies that Washington

had a very special role ...

in American society.

And whenever the other founders

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