I would have thought that one of the main reasons why the Da Vinci Code is so popular is the general resurgent of the suppression of women in the early church. The DVC is pretty looney and horribly written, but I personally have always thought that Mary Magdalene and the rest of the women got a raw deal (and are still getting a raw deal).

I presume that people assume the figure to Jesus' left is a woman, so as to avoid the obvious fact that it represents John, and John was the one Jesus loved with a special love, which (given Leonardo's proclivities) tells its own tale.

The only people who really saw Jesus' empty tomb were the women. The rest of the courageous menfolk had fled. It is reasonably clear that St. Peter was patched on later so as to give the story some credibility, as who could believe a bunch of women.

Queen Victoria: "And when they found the Grail, Lord Tennyson, what were they going to do with it?"

yours,

Peter T.