Sato turned. «Fire? In the U.S. Capitol?»

«More of a large torch, actually — an eternal flame that burned in the crypt directly beneath us. It was supposed to be visible through the hole in the floor, making this room a modern temple of vesta. this building even had its own vestal virgin — a federal employee called the keeper of the crypt — who successfully kept the flame burning for fifty years, until politics, religion, and smoke damage snuffed out the idea.»

Both Anderson and Sato looked surprised.

Nowadays, the only reminder that a flame once burned here was the four-pointed star compass embedded in the crypt floor one story below them — a symbol of America’s eternal flame, which once shed illumination toward the four corners of the New World.

«So, Professor,» Sato said, «your contention is that the man who left Peter’s hand here knew all this?»

«Clearly. And much, much more. There are symbols all over this room that reflect a belief in the Ancient Mysteries.»

«Secret wisdom,» Sato said with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. «Knowledge that lets men acquire godlike powers?»

«Yes, ma’am.»

«That hardly fits with the Christian underpinnings of this country.»

«So it would seem, but it’s true. This transformation of man into God is called apotheosis. Whether or not you’re aware of it, this theme — transforming man into god — is the core element in this Rotunda’s symbolism.»

«Apotheosis?» Anderson spun with a startled look of recognition.

«Yes.» Anderson works here. He knows. «The word apotheosis literally means ‘divine transformation’—that of man becoming God. It’s from the ancient Greek: apo —‘to become,’ theos —‘god.’ »

Anderson looked amazed. «Apotheosis means ‘to become God’? I had no idea.»

«What am I missing?» Sato demanded.

«Ma’am,» Langdon said, «the largest painting in this building is called The Apotheosis of Washington. And it clearly depicts George Washington being transformed into a god.»

Sato looked doubtful. «I’ve never seen anything of the sort.»

«Actually, I’m sure you have.» Langdon raised his index finger, pointing straight up. «It’s directly over your head.»

The Apotheosisof Washington — a 4,664-square-foot fresco that covers the canopy of the Capitol Rotunda — was completed in 1865 by Constantino Brumidi.

Known as «The Michelangelo of the Capitol,» Brumidi had laid claim to the Capitol Rotunda in the same way Michelangelo had laid claim to the Sistine Chapel, by painting a fresco on the room’s most lofty canvas — the ceiling. Like Michelangelo, Brumidi had done some of his finest work inside the Vatican. Brumidi, however, immigrated to America in 1852, abandoning God’s largest shrine in favor of a new shrine, the U.S. Capitol, which now glistened with examples of his mastery — from the trompe l’oeil of the Brumidi Corridors to the frieze ceiling of the Vice President’s Room. And yet it was the enormous image hovering above the Capitol Rotunda that most historians considered to be Brumidi’s masterwork.

Robert Langdon gazed up at the massive fresco that covered the ceiling. He usually enjoyed his students’ startled reactions to this fresco’s bizarre imagery, but at the moment he simply felt trapped in a nightmare he had yet to understand.

Director Sato was standing next to him with her hands on her hips, frowning up at the distant ceiling. Langdon sensed she was having the same reaction many had when they first stopped to examine the painting at the core of their nation.

Utter confusion.

You’re not alone, Langdon thought. For most people, The Apotheosis of Washington got stranger and stranger the longer they looked at it. «That’s George Washington on the central panel,» Langdon said, pointing 180 feet upward into the middle of the dome. «As you can see, he’s dressed in white robes, attended by thirteen maidens, and ascending on a cloud above mortal man. This is the moment of his apotheosis. . his transformation into a god.»

Sato and Anderson said nothing.

«Nearby,» Langdon continued, «you can see a strange, anachronistic series of figures: ancient gods presenting our forefathers with advanced knowledge. there’s minerva giving technological inspiration to our nation’s great inventors — ben franklin, robert fulton, samuel morse.» langdon pointed them out one by one. «and over there is vulcan helping us build a steam engine. beside them is neptune demonstrating how to lay the transatlantic cable. beside that is ceres, goddess of grain and root of our word cereal; she’s sitting on the McCormick reaper, the farming breakthrough that enabled this country to become a world leader in food production. The painting quite overtly portrays our forefathers receiving great wisdom from the gods.» He lowered his head, looking at Sato now. «Knowledge is power, and the right knowledge lets man perform miraculous, almost godlike tasks.»

Sato dropped her gaze back down to Langdon and rubbed her neck. «Laying a phone cable is a far cry from being a god.»

«Perhaps to a modern man,» Langdon replied. «But if George Washington knew that we had become a race that possessed the power to speak to one another across oceans, fly at the speed of sound, and set foot on our moon, he would assume that we had become gods, capable of miraculous tasks.» He paused. «In the words of futurist Arthur C. Clarke, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ »

Sato pursed her lips, apparently deep in thought. She glanced down at the hand, and then followed the direction of the outstretched index finger up into the dome. «Professor, you were told, ‘Peter will point the way.’ Is that correct?»

«Yes, ma’am, but — »

«Chief,» Sato said, turning away from Langdon, «can you get us a closer look at the painting?»

Anderson nodded. «There’s a catwalk around the interior of the dome.» Langdon looked way, way up to the tiny railing visible just beneath the painting and felt his body go rigid. «There’s no need to go up there.» He had experienced that seldom-visited catwalk once before, as the guest of a U.S. senator and his wife, and he had almost fainted from the dizzying height and perilous walkway.

«No need?» Sato demanded. «Professor, we have a man who believes this room contains a portal that has the potential to make him a god; we have a ceiling fresco that symbolizes the transformation of a man into a god; and we have a hand pointing straight at that painting. It seems everything is urging us upward. »

«Actually,» Anderson interjected, glancing up, «not many people know this, but there is one hexagonal coffer in the dome that actually swings open like a portal, and you can peer down through it and — »

«Wait a second,» Langdon said, «you’re missing the point. The portal this man is looking for is a figurative portal — a gateway that doesn’t exist. When he said, ‘Peter will point the way,’ he was talking in metaphorical terms. This pointing-hand gesture — with its index finger and thumb extended upward — is a well-known symbol of the Ancient Mysteries, and it appears all over the world in ancient art. This same gesture appears in three of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous encoded masterpieces — The Last Supper, Adoration of the Magi, and Saint John the Baptist. It’s a symbol of man’s mystical connection to God.» As above, so below. The madman’s bizarre choice of words was starting to feel more relevant now.

«I’ve never seen it before,» Sato said.

Then watch ESPN, Langdon thought, always amused to see professional athletes point skyward in gratitude to God after a touchdown or home run. He wondered how many knew they were continuing a pre-Christian mystical tradition of acknowledging the mystical power above, which, for one brief moment, had transformed them into a god capable of miraculous feats.