The Grail

In Christian tradition, the Grail is anything that has held the body and blood of Christ; usually the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper or the vessel used by Joseph of Arimathea to hold the blood shed by Jesus on the cross. From the medieval Grail romances of such poets as Wolfram von Eschenbach and the later Welsh legends of King Arthur to the energetic adventures of Indiana Jones and the recent researches of Dan Brown's Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, the quest for the Grail has been a potent parable for the search for the ultimate truth. It has inspired a whole culture of chivalry, with knights and adventurers vying for its possession. The Grail: The Quest for a Legend draws on a wide variety of traditions and disciplines, using literary and artistic sources to explore the imaginative richness of the Grail. Andrew Sinclair's richly illustrated book digs deep into the legends to find the origins of our fascination with the Grail and explores the extraordinary legacy and geography of the quest, through Europe to the Near East and across the Atlantic.