<P> Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates , a historian and amateur cryptologist searching for a lost treasure of precious metals , jewelry , artwork and other artifacts that was accumulated into a single massive stockpile by looters and warriors over many millennia starting in Ancient Egypt , later rediscovered by warriors who form themselves into the Knights Templar to protect the treasure , eventually hidden by American Freemasons during the American Revolutionary War . A coded map on the back of the Declaration of Independence points to the location of the `` national treasure , '' but Gates is not alone in his quest . Whoever can steal the Declaration and decode it first will find the greatest treasure in history . </P>
<P> Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates , a historian and amateur cryptologist searching for a lost treasure of precious metals , jewelry , artwork and other artifacts that was accumulated into a single massive stockpile by looters and warriors over many millennia starting in Ancient Egypt , later rediscovered by warriors who form themselves into the Knights Templar to protect the treasure , eventually hidden by American Freemasons during the American Revolutionary War . A coded map on the back of the Declaration of Independence points to the location of the `` national treasure , '' but Gates is not alone in his quest . Whoever can steal the Declaration and decode it first will find the greatest treasure in history . </P>
who tried to steal the declaration of independence
who tried to steal the declaration of independence
Benjamin Franklin Gates
Benjamin Franklin Gates