Study Guide

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 72

By Dan Brown

Chapter 72

The mirror-image poem actually says: "An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll…and helps us keep her scatter'd family whole…a headstone praised by Templars is the key…and Atbash will reveal the truth to thee."
Langdon, ever the nerd, loves that the poem was written in iambic pentameter.
It's also symbolically important that it was written in English, the "pura lingua".
Atbash refers to the Atbash Cipher, which is a well-known "basic rotational substitution scheme."
The scholars are stumped. They obviously need to find this headstone, but they don't even know where to begin.
Sophie is exhausted, and worried. She's finally catching on that her grandfather never made anything simple—this puzzle would have more to it than what they already see.