The Masada Scroll

I love to read novels about ancients documents, archaeological discoveries and conspiracy theories.

This 2007 novel could have been better if the plot lines were more developed and the characters more defined. As it is, it reads like a hastily written work to cash in the vacuum left by the Dan Brown books. It is not that the concept is not intriguing- it is. However it lacks the scholarship to make it convincing.



[contain spoilers]



The Masada Scrolls are actually the Gospel of Dismas, the son of the Good Thief who died beside Jesus. In it, Dismas documented that Jesus appeared to Simon of Cyrene after the resurrection before appearing to the Marys, the disciples on the Emmaus road and the rest of the disciples. Jesus gave Simon the Cylene, a secret symbol (see above) called the Trevia Dei which signifies that there are three ways to God - Christianity, Judaism and Islam.




The symbol is a composite of the symbols of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. However, Gaius of Ephesians discovered the Gospel of Dismas and instead changed to Via Dei - one way to God which is Christianity. The novel is about the lengths the Vatican will make to ensure that this remains a secret.


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