What’s With All the Egyptian Symbolism this Season?

Well, I don’t know. But I thought that I’d write a short rundown of what we’ve seen so far. Later, perhaps on Tuesday, I’ll publish a creation myth involving the Egyptian god, Osiris.


First – the hieroglyphs. We’ve seen the hieroglyphs a number of times, first on the countdown timer when the timer reached zero. Apparently the producers of Lost (called Darlton, to indicate the two main producers) translate those hieroglyphs to mean “underworld”. We’ve seen these same hieroglyphs on the Ajira Airways Boarding Pass (you can barely see them on the corners).

We next saw hieroglyphs on Ben’s secret door to the smoke monster. These apparently translate to something like summon and protection.

The hieroglyphs in the frozen donkey wheel room may translate, appropriately enough, to travel and time. Darlton also allege that the hieroglyph for "resurrection" is present.

Hieroglyphs are also seen on the copy of Daniel’s map that Caesar found in the Hydra Station in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. These hieroglyphs were apparently not on the map when we first saw it last season. Some with more time on their hands than I have speculate that the two sets indicate a direction of travel and “time of kings/ancients”.

But it is the Temple itself that is lousy with hieroglyphs. Jin noticed all kinds of hieroglyphs on the Temple walls in This Place is Death. Some of the hieroglyphs on the Temple wall include those that translate to “lifetime” or “period” or “space of time”, “time of kings/ancients”, and “resurrection”. Ben also noted many hieroglyphs on the walls of the underground chamber below the temple walls, but I’ve not yet found translations for those.

In my note on Dead is Dead, I included a picture that I’ve reproduced here. This was found in the underground chamber, and appears to be the smoke monster and the Egyptian god Anubis. Anubis was a jackal-faced god who helped create the funeral rites when he bound Osiris to preserve him from contact with air and other corruptions. He later acts as a guide in the Other World, leading the souls to the hall of judgment, where he weighs the soul of the dead. We may have seen Anubis at an earlier time – or at least his back. Many consider the four-toed statue to be of Anubis. The statue itself hold two ankhs.

Speaking of ankhs, we’ve certainly seen one this season. Amy’s first husband, Paul, wore an ankh, which Amy removed from his body before it was turned over to the Hostiles. Three years later, Horace found the ankh, and terrified that Amy still loved Paul, he went on an explosive bender. In Egyptian mythology, the ankh was carried by the god, Shu, and symbolized “eternal life.”

We’ve also seen a drawing of the Great Sphinx of Giza, which Hurley was drawing when John visited hin in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. The great sphinx was carved out of solid rock on the orders of King Khephren over 5,000 years ago. The personification of the rising sun, sphinxes were generally seen as temple guardians.

Finally, the next episode is titled Some Like it Hoth. A few theories about the title include the play on the title of the famous movie. Hoth itself was a frozen ice world in the Empire Strikes Back. But of note for this discussion is the Egyptian god Thoth. Perhaps the title would have been “Some Like it Thoth,” but for the play on words that Hoth created. Thoth was an ibis-headed god who served Osiris and his family as a vizier (what do viziers do, anyway?). He became a mediator between good and evil, making sure that neither had a decisive victory over the other.

I suspect that the producers have chosen Egyptian symbols because of the richness of the mythology that they represent, because of the everlasting battle between good and evil, and because of its focus on resurrection and the After Life. It has been beautifully played, with an ever young Richard Alpert who has seemingly defeated death, the battle between the forces of good and evil (though who is which is often quite difficult to tell), and John Locke’s recent resurrection. I look forward to even more Egyptian symbols.