Was Mary Magdalene a common prostitute, or was she a woman of high standing, closely allied to Jesus in his mission and in love?

Did she, along with other women, play an important role in establishing early Christianity? Did she leave Palestine following the crucifixion? Was there something about her story that the established church went to great lengths to obliterate, and that others went to great lengths to discover and preserve?

Join the author in a rich and variegated journey through diverse lands surrounding the Mediterranean and beyond, where the figure of Mary Magdalene captured the imagination and devotion of peoples of every class—and particularly of nobles and the highly educated—and where her fame became woven into traditions that may well have had their origins long before the advent of Christianity on the hoary, time-obscured stage of pre-patriarchal society.

“The contradiction is not even subtle between the image that has been handed down to us officially regarding Mary Magdalene, and that very different picture: the one transmitted though ancient documents discovered in the Nag Hammadi library, through signs and symbols, in stone sculptures in Christian churches and cathedrals, in the painted works of the masters ... that convey to us the image of a wise and learned woman.”

—From the first chapter