- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Pan Books (12 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330391194
- ISBN-13: 978-0330391191
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,156,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
While other researchers strive to guess the meanings of paintings by such masters as Poussin, Leonardo and others, Peter Blake has reached very different conclusions. Other researchers have linked the paintings to the mysteries surrounding the French village of Rennes-le-Chateau, but Blake, from the recurrent geometrical themes found in key paintings of both Poussin and Leonardo, has overlayed the grids he found there on maps of Languedoc to pinpoint a never-before-discovered hill tomb. If the clues that have led him this far are right, this could be the final resting place of two of the most significant people talked about in the Bible. Through following the trail by which Blake found the tomb, the text unravels a rich cloth of learning and religion spun in secrecy over the centuries, and uncover the true identity of a host of historical characters, all party to the secret of the ciphers.
From the Author
The fascinating resolution to an enduring European mystery
The culmination of twenty years of research by Peter Blake, assisted for the last four years by myself, Paul S Blezard, this book presents new evidence and interpretations of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery that first came to public prominence through Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln's book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".
The culmination of twenty years of research by Peter Blake, assisted for the last four years by myself, Paul S Blezard, this book presents new evidence and interpretations of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery that first came to public prominence through Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln's book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail".
Taking the Poussin work "Les Bergers d'Arcadie" as his starting point, Blake discovered that paintings by other, previously unconnected artists, also had a geometric coding in their compositions. This discovery catalysed a most extraordinary quest which led him to review the origins of religious thinking, through the civilisations of Babylon and Egypt and ultimately to a most unexpected and startling discovery which may have wider implications for the Christian Church.
As the co-author of this book, I hope that readers will find it both a fascinating record of Peters personal quest and a thought-provoking analysis of the history and secrets which lie behind this enduring mystery. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
While earnest and well-meaning, this book falls very short of cracking 'Christianity's Greatest Secret'. The research is poorly documented and the book oddly organized. After an interesting if somewhat wishful analysis of several key art works and their artisits, the authors spend the bulk of the book offering a fairly easy-to-read and nothing-new summary of Rennes-le-chateau, Gnosticism, the Magdelene tradition in the south of France, the Cathars, and so on. If you knew nothing about any of these things, this is not a bad overview. But if you're waiting for the big secret and the big discovery, it all happens in a couple of brief chapters at the very end. Their conclusions are very thin and undocumented, and quite a lot of the book just doesn't make sense. For example, they try to present the infamous "A Dagobert II Roi..." encoded message in the Rennes parchments as "A Dagoberti I Roi...", insisting that in archaic French in its latinized form Dagobert is Dagoberti. So all the experts that have come before never considered this or were unfamiliar with archaic French? In describing Poussin's The Deluge, the authors insist that a figure in the forground is swimming with a book (which they think represents esoteric knowledge). Granted I have not seen the originals, but in all the versions of this painting I've seen, this is not a guy swimming with a book-- it's a guy floating on a plank of wood. It just doesn't look like anything other than a plank of wood. As a final example, the authors find a pentagram-- and only one-- in Poussin's Shepards painting by extending lines from two staffs held by figures in the painting. Of course , other figures are holding staffs, trees are making lines, and there seem to be a wealth of pentagrams hidden in this painting. The authors choose the one they want and ignore the rest. And the one they choose isn't even a complete pentagram-- it runs off the page, which they say is a special 'active pentagram' with esoteric significance. Maybe so, but I don't buy it. Or much else in this rather sad entry.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I find myself tending to agree with some of the other reviewers of this book, concerning the conclusions that the authors come to. These do seem based on rather tenuous assumptions. I think that perhaps their scholarship is better and more thorough than the length of the book allows.
Several reviews mark it down because of the lack of plates. My copy has both colour and B&W images to enable the reader to see the places and the geometry contained within various paintings.
Certainly, if you are new to the subject, this is a good 'taster'. I would certainly NOT recommend the 'Da Vinci Code' as a definitive work on the subject!!!! The book that started all this was the exceptional 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'. I would suggest that anyone wanting both a good read and some serious scholarship would do well to go to that very significant tome. The devout Christian reviewer will find that book far more rewarding both in its scope and its scholarship; it's also an exceptional read.
To summarise; a good read but don't take it as Gospel.
Several reviews mark it down because of the lack of plates. My copy has both colour and B&W images to enable the reader to see the places and the geometry contained within various paintings.
Certainly, if you are new to the subject, this is a good 'taster'. I would certainly NOT recommend the 'Da Vinci Code' as a definitive work on the subject!!!! The book that started all this was the exceptional 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'. I would suggest that anyone wanting both a good read and some serious scholarship would do well to go to that very significant tome. The devout Christian reviewer will find that book far more rewarding both in its scope and its scholarship; it's also an exceptional read.
To summarise; a good read but don't take it as Gospel.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read a plethora of books on many of the topics covered here, there is no great new revelation in reading this book.
Sure it may be a reasonable starting place for a newcomer to this field of research/interest but most of what is contained herein can be found in most of the other books on these subjects.
What I found to be really annoying is the fact that there are no plates, b&w or colour to back up the investigative process. The paintings are not depicted, the area is not shown, there are no maps and especially no photos the the great discovery and yet they write that photographs were taken. I found this a little suspicious as I for one would want to show the world my great discovery! Other publications such as the Tomb of God at least show the geometry of paintings and photos of the locations.
There are better works out there on this subject and some outstanding books on the various subjects of the Gnostic Gospels, Medieval Heresies, the Black Madonna and the Knights Templars etc.
At best this book can be considered a starting place and certainly not the finish!
Sure it may be a reasonable starting place for a newcomer to this field of research/interest but most of what is contained herein can be found in most of the other books on these subjects.
What I found to be really annoying is the fact that there are no plates, b&w or colour to back up the investigative process. The paintings are not depicted, the area is not shown, there are no maps and especially no photos the the great discovery and yet they write that photographs were taken. I found this a little suspicious as I for one would want to show the world my great discovery! Other publications such as the Tomb of God at least show the geometry of paintings and photos of the locations.
There are better works out there on this subject and some outstanding books on the various subjects of the Gnostic Gospels, Medieval Heresies, the Black Madonna and the Knights Templars etc.
At best this book can be considered a starting place and certainly not the finish!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Haakon
I have visited the spot that this books describes. It isa place that is strong, there is evidence that people are also visiting this out of the way place. Read more
Published on 22 May 2008 by Haakon
Arcadian Cipher
There is a reason the Vatican purchased 5000 copies of this book. The Author Peter Blake is held in high regard by Henry Linclon author of Holy Blood. Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2007 by Simon
Too credulous and thinly-researched to add weight to genuinely worthy...
I was very much looking forward to reading this book as it's subject matter - the Gnostic gospels, Hermeticism, the mysteries of Rennes-le-Chateau, and the study of art itself - is... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2007 by L. Edwards
Fascinating, informative, a pleasure to read
Being an ardent Christian, I was preparing myself to be thoroughly annoyed by The Arcadian Cipher. In fact I found it utterly intriguing. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2001
Living proof some books should not be published!
This volume that holds "the quest to crack the code of Christianity,s greatest secret" is a poorly researched and poorly written story that appears to have been cobbled... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2001
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