A closer look
Before it became the sparkling golden chalice of infinite Jesus power, the Holy Grail was just fancy dinnerware. When the twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes wrote the first romance featuring the 'graal', he described it simply as a wide, somewhat deep serving platter meant for carrying a single communion wafer. It wasn't until later writers got their hands on the legend that they morphed it into the cup from the Last Supper. Indiana Jones literally dodged lethal traps for what was originally medieval catering equipment.
