Other mistake: Langdon and Teabing make a point of how John the Apostle looks female in the painting The Last Supper, and claim that it shows that it was not John at all depicted by Mary Magdalene. During Da Vinci's time it was actually common to portray John with long hair and no beard as he was thought to have been quite young when he became an apostle. Furthermore, Da Vinci painted The Last Supper using a new type of paint, which unfortunately did not stand the test of time very well. After only a little more than half a century most of the color had faded and the painting had to be restored. Any female traits in John's face may be the result of whoever restored the painting, not Da Vinci himself.

Factual error: In the book Teabing is a die hard British patriot, yet he refers to the sport of soccer. NO Englishman would use the word soccer for the game of football. [People keep trying to correct this - you've really got to accept it. It's nothing to do with Teabing being older - soccer may have been used in the very early days of the game, but the governing body of the sport in the UK is the Football Association, formed in 1863, demonstrating how that was the accepted word for the sport even then (otherwise it would be the Soccer Association). Likewise the international governing body, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), formed in 1904 - no mention of the word soccer there either. And it won't be him changing it for Langdon's benefit, considering a) Langdon's intelligent enough to know what he means, and b) he's so determinedly English about everything else. This site is run by a Brit, and it's not getting changed. :-)]

More mistakes in The Da Vinci Code

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