The cryptex:
The safe deposit box holds a box, in which there is a cryptex - an invention by Leonardo Da Vinci. 5 wheels with letters that have to be put in a particular position to make a word, which will open the cryptex. The cryptex holds a piece of papyrus which has been rolled around a small container made of thin glass. Inside the container is vinegar, which will destroy the papyrus, if the container is broken.
Nothing seems to prove that Leonardo Da Vinci has invented the cryptex. It might just be one of Dan Browns ideas. It turns out that it would probably take special treatment of a paper to be destroyed by vinegar. And Robert and Sophie could easily have put the cryptex into a freezer and just waited for the vinegar to get frozen. Then they could have destroyed the cryptex and gained access to the papyrus with the secret codes.
The container with the cryptex is decorated with a rose. The rose is a female symbol because of the five rose leaves. The romans hang up a rose during secret meetings, so that everything that was mentioned should remain a secret.
Robert Langdon gets the idea, that the rose on the container can be pushed aside. And there is a text under the rose. It says:
An ancient word for 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
The verse is a iambic pentameter which means that it is a particular rhythm with 5 iambic feet. One iambic feet is two syllables of which one is unstressed and the next is stressed. Five of them for the five pointing star of Venus and the holy lady.
Atbash, which is written in the last line, is a code, dated back to the year 500 b.C. It is a well known type of jewish cryptogram and a simple code for exchanging letters, based on the 22 letters of the hebraic alphabet. You exchange the first letter with the last, the second with the second last letter etc.
The tomb praised by templars, belongs to Baphomet, who was a pagan god of fertility. Baphomets head has been shown as a ram or a male goat.
Even though there are 8 letters in Baphomet, the solution to the puzzle only consists of 5 letters. This is because the vocals are not written in the formel, hebraic way of spelling. Baphomet is spelled BPVMTh. By using the atbash-code the first letter is exchanged as earlier mentioned, and BPVMTh is translated into ShVPYA. It is prenounced Sofya. Sofya is an old word for wisdom, which is spelled SOFIA in the old greek language.
Inside the cryptex, which is opened with the code SOFIA, lies another, smaller black cryptex. The first one was white. The colours symbolizes man/woman. Inside is another code:
In London lies a knight a Pope interred.
His labor´s fruit a holy wrath incurred.
You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.
It speaks of rosy flesh and seeded womb.
The last line refers clearly to Mary Magdalene: the rose that carried the seeds of Jesus.
The verse leads the main characters to the Temple Church in London, followed by Westminster Abbey, where Sir Isac Newton is burried. Newton became a knight, but his work made the foundation to a new science, that made the church angry. He is also mentioned as one of the grand masters of Priory of Sion. "Pope", which is written in the verse, is firstly connected with the pope, but it turns out that it is a dear friend and collegue of Isac Newton.
The orb that ought to be on his tomb is an APPLE. The orb which Eve took a bite of and made God angry. The apple is also the symbol of the fall of the holy lady. The apple is correctly missing on Newtons tomb, even though it was an apple falling from the sky, which inspired him to the work of his life.
