9

Langdon examines Leonardo Vetra’s frozen, naked corpse in the chilled apartment. The body’s broken neck and the branded word on Vetra’s chest horrify him, but the symbol itself captures Langdon’s full attention because it is a perfectly formed ambigram of “Illuminati.”

Kohler explains that he knew only what he found through an online search, and that Langdon’s credentials made him seem reliable. Kohler presses Langdon to explain who the Illuminati were, while Langdon remains shaken by the fact that a symbol long considered legendary appears to be real.

Langdon explains that the Illuminati began in sixteenth-century Rome as a secret brotherhood of scientists and thinkers opposing the Catholic Church’s control over truth. He describes them as “the enlightened ones,” a clandestine scientific movement formed to protect and share knowledge that the church suppressed.

Langdon identifies Galileo Galilei as a leading Illuminatus and says Galileo believed science and religion could coexist as complementary ways of understanding God’s universe. Kohler, impatient with the history, challenges Langdon to connect these events to Vetra’s murder.

Langdon then recounts how Galileo’s arrest destabilized the Illuminati, leading the church to capture, torture, brand, and murder four members. The remaining Illuminati fled underground, absorbed other persecuted groups, and evolved into a more secretive, anti-Christian organization that vowed revenge against the Catholic Church.

Langdon concludes that the Vatican came to regard the Illuminati as a satanic enemy, linking the term “Shaitan” to Satan. Although Langdon cannot explain why Vetra bears the mark, he tells Kohler that the brand is the long-lost symbol of what he calls the world’s oldest and most powerful satanic cult.