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Egyptian Mythology in Lost

Searching for Lost’s Rosetta Stone to try and get some answers.

These are theories, more specifically tying up ideas incorporating a Unified Theory. It gets even more tricky when dealing with a theory that binds together many different aspects of the show, as we need to make broad generalizations, in the hope that if a big piece fits, then we can try to extrapolate that information and plug in the smaller pieces.

Worth noting: I do not think they are in ancient Egypt through some strange time leap, nor are they simply dead and in the Egyptian ‘Hell’.When I say ‘Richard is Atum’ for example, I mean Richard is representative of Atum. Presented here are underlying concepts that may be used to connect the characters and events and to try to decipher answers from a series of clues.

Background

From Season 4 DVD: ‘Mysterious Egyptian influences’

Hieroglyphs in Lost

• Countdown timer
• The Temple
• Ben and Faraday’s maps
• Statue
• Ajira airline ticket
• Ben’s secret door

Putting the pieces together

The Island itself:

While there were several different creation myths, they all shared common elements: an infinite, lifeless ocean which preceded the creation, and a pyramidal mound of land which was the first thing to emerge from this ocean. Egyptians believed that the Afterlife, resurrection and the dead existed on the same plane as the gods. Life and death can be blurred on the Island, and Miles’ ability to speak with the dead may become prevalent. As the Island appears to move throughout the world, and time itself seems to warp around it, perhaps the Island is in fact on a different plane of existence than ‘our’ world.

What the Island wants:

The personification of the Island and the rules that must be followed:

The Egyptian word Ma’at encompassed several concepts in English, including “truth,” “justice,” and “order.” It referred to the divine order of the universe, both in nature and in human society. In nature, Ma’at included the structure of the world that kept each element in its place, and the cyclical patterns of time; it meant all the forces of nature existing in balance.

Underneath the Island:

Beneath the Orchid, and beneath the Temple:

The Duat was located beneath the earth where Osiris presided over the dead. It was believed that the sun, on its journey through the Duat, brought light and revitalization to the deceased, including Osiris, and with whom they were to arise in the morning.

The most famous scene from the discussions of Duat is the Weighing of the Heart, in which the dead were judged by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma’at, the goddess of truth and justice. She was responsible for maintaining order in the universe after having eliminated the emptiness of chaos at the beginning of creation.

The heart was thought to be the location of the soul by the ancient Egyptians. The hearts of souls which were out of balance because of sin, any hearts heavier or lighter than the feather of Ma’at, were rejected and eaten by the goddess Ammit (also known as the Devourer of Souls). Those souls that would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru had to have hearts that weighed exactly the same as Ma’at’s feather.

Ennead were the 9 forces of nature, which are represented by 9 Dharma Stations (by which I mean the most important 9, not including the cross station, or the lamp post for example), which in turn are representative of Egyptian temples.

Smokey is Ammit

Ben’s secret door reads ‘summon protector’ and beneath the Temple we see Smokey pictured with Anubis. Throughout different forms and abilities, Smokey is the representation of judgment.

The personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs one had committed in life. She dwelt in the Hall of Ma’at, who was the personification of the concept of truth, balance, and order.

Ammit was not worshipped, and she was never regarded as a goddess. Instead, she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, threatening to bind them to eternal restlessness if they did not follow the principle of Ma’at.

Although Ammit is seen as a swallowing entity, its order is neutral and strictly serves at the whim of the other deities to take souls that have sinned against the gods and consign them into oblivion.

Jacob is Osiris

The name Jacob may be in reference to the Hebrew son of Isaac who receives undue blessings and travels to Egypt. It is also phonetically similar to Jackal, a reference to Anubis, a deity who was merged with that of Osiris, god of death, rebirth, and regeneration. Christian Shepherd and John Locke, two whose method of choice to the Island happened to be coffins, have a profound connection with Jacob.

The cult of Osiris (who was a god chiefly of regeneration and re-birth) had a particularly strong interest toward the concept of immortality.

Osiris was viewed as the one who died to save the many, who rose from the dead, the first of a long line that has significantly affected man’s view of the world and expectations of an afterlife

Claire is Jacob’s Isis

Of all the Lostys to end up in Jacon’s cabin, it’s Claire.

Isis : She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife, matron of nature and magic; friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Isis is the Goddess of motherhood and fertility.

Richard is a representation of Atum

The Egyptians believed the first being was the god Atum, or Adam in a biblical parallel to the Garden of Eden.
Atum is to Pharoahs as Richard is to ‘Leaders’ of the Others, ie Widmore, Ben, now Locke. While the Leader of the Others makes the decisions, he must still follow the orders of Jacob and Richard. Richard appears ageless, is in tune with the Island and his people, and his mascara is definitely reminiscent of ancient Egyptian style.

Atum is one of the most important and frequently mentioned deities from earliest times, as evidenced by his prominence in the Pyramid Texts, where he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the king. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the dual white and red crown of Upper Egypt, and Lower Egypt, reinforcing his connection with kingship.

In the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king’s soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens.

Egyptian influence on Dharma Initiative

Horace Goodspeed= Horus god of sky and the son of Osiris, probably a name taken by Horace (like Sawyer taking the name Lafleur). In actuality, Horace ends up being more representative of Sisyphus.

“He was notorious as the most cunning knave on earth. His greatest triumph came at the end of his life, when the god Hades came to claim him personally for the kingdom of the dead. Hades had brought along a pair of handcuffs, a comparative novelty, and Sisyphus expressed such an interest that Hades was persuaded to demonstrate their use – on himself.
And so it came about that the high lord of the Underworld was kept locked up in a closet at Sisyphus’s house for many a day, a circumstance which put the great chain of being seriously out of whack. Nobody could die. A soldier might be chopped to bits in battle and still show up at camp for dinner. Finally Hades was released and Sisyphus was ordered summarily to report to the Underworld for his eternal assignment.” Credit to Eggotised1

Oldham appears to follow in the purist tradition of Egyptian priests, but tinged by the practices of shamans, or medicine men.

Since the Egyptian influence predates Dharma, hieroglyphs were incorporated into Dharma designs, the countdown timer and the wall built around the Temple were adorned, whereas the ‘sub’ Temple and the Wheel Room being deeper and more connected perhaps have ‘true’ hieroglyphics.

The Statue

The debate continues until we actually see the front of the statue, but I think it also makes a difference as to *who* built the statue. If it predates the Dharma Initiative, I assume it is Anubis, god of the dead. Possibly in reference to who we know as Jacob, and destroyed (leaving only one foot) when Jacob was ‘imprisoned’ in his cabin.

Anubis: The god to protect the dead and bring them to the afterlife. He was usually portrayed as a half human, half jackal, or in full jackal form wearing a ribbon and holding a flail in the crook of its arm^[5]. The jackal was strongly associated with cemeteries in ancient Egypt, since it was a scavenger which threatened to uncover human bodies and eat their flesh^[6] The distinctive black color of Anubis “did not have to do with the jackal [per se] but with the color of rotting flesh and with the black soil of the Nile valley, symbolizing rebirth.”

If it was built by Dharma, I’m more inclined to believe it is a statue of Tawaret, protector of pregnant women.

Tawaret: Early during the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians came to see female hippopotamuses as less aggressive than the males, and began to view their aggression only as one of protecting their young and being good mothers, particularly since it is the males that are territorially aggressive. Consequently, Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women wore amulets with her name or likeness to protect their pregnancies. Her image could also be found on knives made from hippopotamus ivory, which would be used as wands in rituals to drive evil spirits away from mothers and children.

Why was the statue destroyed?

One theory is that the warhead ‘Jughead’ has been buried beneath it as it’s one of the largest single expendable sources of concrete, and why Ilana would ask, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”. Another could be the Island rejecting an effigy built by Dharma (if that was the case) as the Egyptians believed idols in stone especially possessed significant power and meaning. Perhaps in a much simpler explanation, age and ‘natural’ disturbances caused the statue to fall into the sea.

Also worth noting, the creators initially wanted the statue to have 6 toes, but ended up settling on 4. “According to their own words, Lindelof and Cuse didn’t mind as long as the statue didn’t have five toes. However, sculptor Jim Van Houten gave yet another explanation in the May 9, 2008 video podcast, claiming that the statue’s foot was changed from six to four toes because it was hard to tell that it wasn’t a regular five-toed foot when it had six toes.”

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