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That Thar Statue be Egyptian

By John Cabrera on Mar 05 2009

SEASON 5 SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay, I didn’t think I would be writing another Lost post today, but come on peeps… you knew it’d be coming soon. Especially after last night’s big reveal of the four toed foot statue.

So let’s take another look.

lost egyptian statue

We can’t see its face… but we can see its pointy ears, a pair of skivvies… and take a look at what’s in its hands. It’s holding two Ankhs. The same symbol worn on the necklace of that dead Dharma husband later in this episode.

Now, you know how I get with this show’s Ancient artifacts… so you better believe my mind started racing for a connection to our own Ancient world.

Okay, so are there any ancient, skimpy clad fellers with pointy ears who liked to hold Ankhs? Well as a matter of fact, YES… YES… and YESIRRIE.

I think I can finally hang my first big Lost theory over the mantle:

That four toed statue is… an animal deity. That four toed statue is Egyptian. That four toed statue is Anubis… Egyptian God of the Dead.

HUGE UPDATE: Please read the comments below. @paulinehess has a BRILLIANT new theory. She doesn’t believe the statue is Anubis… She thinks the statue is Sekhmet… and she has some great research to back it up. Take a look.

Oh and one more thing that hit me while watching this first part of the episode. After the final FLASH, Miles says something like, “That was more of an earthquake.” My guess is when Locke turned the donkey wheel, the tremors destroyed that statue… he may have even been responsible for a larger cataclysm at that point in the Island’s history.

Or maybe they weren’t that far back in time at all. Perhaps the statue was still in tact only a few hundred years ago and this was just the event that brought it down.

Also, let’s not forget… the Ancient Egyptians LOVED their eyeliner. And Alpert’s supposed to be OLD, right?

The time loop theory of Lost (kottke.org)
Lost Round Table: “La Fleur” (tor.com)

43 Responses to “That Thar Statue be Egyptian”

Tidmore on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:34 pm #

Anubis does seem to be the general consensus of who that statue relates to. Although I’ve seen Horus some places as well. (some people were linking Horace Goodspeed and Horus)

But I still think the best part of the episode was Sawyer referring to Alpert as the guy with eyeliner.
DJSmackMackey on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:49 pm #

Horace=Horus
Alpert=Alpo=Dog=Anubis!

Aha!!

I got nothin’.
But it’s about time the love quadrangle reared it’s ugly head this season!
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:51 pm #

LOL. No doubt… that was great. A total laugh out loud moment. Especially because I could imagine the episode’s table read when the actors got to that line. Everyone in the room probably burst out laughing, with Nestor Carbonell just shaking his head.

I actually considered Horus and Set too, since they’re also depicted holding Ankhs… but in the end, those pointy ears swayed me to Anubis…. who has been my hunch for a long time.
Manos Torgo on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:53 pm #

That opening shot blew me away. We’ve got even more of a link now between the statue & the hieroglyphs to either ancient Egypt or an organization styled after ancient Egypt…sorta like how the Masons used old imagery for a new organization. So the statue may not be thousands of years old… Imagine if 200 years from now someone uncovered an abondoned Luxor in Las Vegas!
But considering that the statue was seen in a time not known to us and that the “exit” from the Island drops people into Tunisia there is a chance we are deeply involved into some Atlantean stuff for sure.

I too laughed at the eyeliner line. Nestor doesn’t wear eyeliner but it’s all over the web!
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:58 pm #

I didn’t make the Horace Goodspeed connection till you guys just mentioned it. It’s certainly cool, and probably written in on purpose… but I think it’s just a red herring.
DJSmackMackey on 05 Mar 2009 at 1:03 pm #

Oh shit! What if Richard Alpert is Ra? R A?
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 1:15 pm #

Actually, I just made an addition to the post DJ that may support your theory. LOL.
Hanna on 05 Mar 2009 at 1:23 pm #

What about the smoke monster…could that be another form of Anubis? Wiki says “Anubis is depicted in funerary contexts where he is shown attending to the mummies of the deceased or sitting atop a tomb protecting it.” So maybe the smoke monster which was protecting the temple (if I remember correctly?) is Anubis manifesting itself in smokey texture? Also do we believe the statue is just a symbol of Anubis or is the statue somehow more than a statue and it was really protecting the island? LOL
DJSmackMackey on 05 Mar 2009 at 1:36 pm #

It might not be Anubis. It could be Set

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mythology)
Paul Gude on 05 Mar 2009 at 2:24 pm #

I thought this was interesting because The Anubus Gates is the name of a really great Tim Powers book, which is all about time travel.

Maybe a coincidence, or one of the writers is possibly a fan.
Rae on 05 Mar 2009 at 3:07 pm #

I’m not sure it matters which Egyptian deity it is (though Anubis seems to fit the best, especially with the island’s history with the dead) but it’s clearly one of them. I’m wondering if the Dharma Initiative aren’t some Egyptian religious sect. Ok, not really, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we have a character named Horace, Paul wearing ankhs, and Egyptian symbols all over Dharma stuff: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Image:CounterZeroHieroglyphic.jpg

I really like the idea that the turning of the wheel may have resulted in the downfall of the statue! Except I get all confused about the time travel stuff and I don’t get how that works.
kelseroo on 05 Mar 2009 at 3:26 pm #

While watching the episode, as soon as I saw the statue I thought, “Ooh, John’s gonna love this!” And I knew you’d blog about it. I love your theory- makes sense to me, and the pictures don’t lie. And yes, the eyeliner line made me think, “Finally they’ve said out loud what everyone is thinking!” I am getting so excited to see what is revealed next!
DJSmackMackey on 05 Mar 2009 at 3:26 pm #

Lost is going to turn out to just be a spinoff of Stargate.
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 3:38 pm #

Rae, I think you have a good point about the Ankh… also hieroglyphs on modern Dharma equip. There’s something there. The Dharma folks seem to know about this Island’s Egyptian past or roots. Maybe it is something sacred to them. Horace did tell Sawyer, “You aren’t Dharma material.”

Or it may not be religious, just reverence and respect for the functions of the island.

While I can’t imagine the name Horace was a coincidence, it does smell more to me like a red herring. Something for fans to focus on while the writers tinker away with the real mystery. The writers seem to love dropping historical and literary coincidences (particularly names) all over the series. If they all fit into the mystery somehow, I think that would be a little odd.

I’m actually getting really excited about this idea that Richard Alpert’s “eyeliner” is actually his leftover Egyptian eyeliner after he wiped it off. My guess is that Dharma Make-up Remover just isn’t very good.
Viv on 05 Mar 2009 at 4:37 pm #

Well.. Horace is the guy that Locke found chopping a huge tree over and over again and told him to find him in a dream.. and had the map to the cabin to find jacob.. so I am guessing he is definitely someone important that was killed.

I also found it kinda sad that Daniel saw Charlotte as a little girl running around. (which makes sense as to why her body disappeared..). before she died she told him that she had seen him before when she was a little kid… which brings us back to Daniel’s theory that things will continue to happen even though they have traveled back and forth in time.

I also thought it was awesome that alpert was super surprised to hear sawyer’s knowledge of events.

but how about the whole child being born in the island? how come everything was fine back then? and it also sounds like people were able to go back and forth in a sub into tahiti and back to the island… does this mean things changed later where the island chooses who can and cant return??

i also thought it was interesting that sawyer told horace that he was over kate.. but as soon as he saw her you can see him completelly melting!! is that why he didnt tell juliette about Jin’s findings??
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 4:55 pm #

Viv, I loved that moment with Sawyer too. I also loved Josh Holloway’s acting in this episode. There was a very distinct growth in the character in these three years. He’s less on edge. More intellectual. Open about his feelings (tells Juliette he loves her without even the slightest hesitation.)… and an all around confident, thoughtful leader. I thought he nailed it performance-wise… shifting between the old defensive, sarcastic boy… and this new bespectacled man.

But if you notice, when he finally sees Kate, he removes his glasses. It seems like a cliché acting choice on the surface. We’ve seen actors do it a million times on screen, and unless there’s some sort immense glare, it usually doesn’t make much sense. But this was the first time I’ve seen it done where it had a totally different meaning and emotional resonance. It was like suddenly all the insecurities were flooding him again, and with that one simple unconscious act… the Sawyer walls of defense were being erected once again.
Gambs23 on 05 Mar 2009 at 6:55 pm #

tell me something: why does Sawyer still walk like his arm still has the bullet in it?! he was shot like forever ago. im sorry but i cant stand the guy.
John Cabrera on 05 Mar 2009 at 9:14 pm #

Gambs, before this past episode, it had only been a couple months since he was shot. Even though this story has taken ABC 4 years to tell, the events that led to last season’s escape from the island have only been about 3 months.

Of course in this past episode, we learn that Sawyer’s been on the Island an additional 3 years… which would certainly give his shoulder time to heal. But it’s very common for an injury of that severity (he almost died from the infection) to affect mobility over the long term. We see it most commonly with injuries to the legs, but arms are just as much a part of natural movement/stride. The person may no longer feel the pain, but if their recovery process included an adjustment to their stride, their body becomes used to it. Feels natural and safe.

I’m sorry, but I love that guy.
Vanessa N. on 05 Mar 2009 at 9:21 pm #

The reveal of the four-toed statue in last night’s episode and this subsequent blog and discussion make me feel like a kid on Christmas morning.
Ashley Dionne on 05 Mar 2009 at 9:49 pm #

I’m with you. I love Sawyer.

I honestly hate Jack with all the passion of the Christ though.
I was in physical pain after this episode because I fear that the writers are trying to make it easier for “Jate” to happen when “Skate” is what’s best…though Julawyer has a great ring to it. I want a Julawyer for my birthday.
Pauline on 05 Mar 2009 at 11:35 pm #

Wow… I’m going to be the sole desenter here… but here goes… I think that the statue is not a male deity but female. I think it is the Goddess Sekhmet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet

Mainly it’s is because I just had a feeling as soon as I saw it… and also because most statues of Anubis have REALLY tall ears on the top of the head… and this statue, from the back at least looks like it’s face could be more rounded… like the head of a lion with ears that are a bit rounded… like those of Sekhmet.

Here: http://www.archaeowiki.org/Sakhmet
It says that Sekhmet’s personality was one of polar extremes: a dangerous and potentially destructive aspect at one end, contrasting a benificent, protective and healing side at the other. (Just like the island.) We’ve seen the island kill people (Like Eko and Shannon) as well as heal people, (like Locke).

She is a sun goddess and I’ve noticed that on the temple ruins there are several hieroglyphs for sun.

AND!!! Sekhmet is a protector of women and children during childbirth… and if the Darhma people were a Sekhmet cult… then it would stand to reason that after their extinction, the island got mad at Ben and the others so their women died and lost babies during childbirth.

Oh… and there was a reference last night to Sawyer going back to the beach where they were attacked with flaming arrows and I found this about Sekhmet: “Sekhmet was believed to protect the pharaoh in battle, stalking the land, and destroying the pharaoh’s enemies with arrows of fire.” One of the dharma symbols is an arrow which is a symbol mentioned all over the web to be associated with Sekhmet.

Okay… so that is my case for Sekhmet. Hopefully it holds a little bit of water…
John Cabrera on 06 Mar 2009 at 2:11 am #

Okay, I have to admit, at first I totally wrote off Sekhmet. In almost EVERY depiction of her or any other Egyptian goddess, she is wearing a gown. But I was also having a difficult time justifying the shorter ears for Anubis… and what looks like hair down the back.

Then I read this, and I have to say… Pauline… impressive. Mighty mighty impressive.

Another thing about the statue that struck me is the block on its head. It fits perfectly into your theory, since Sekhmet is usually depicted with that same shape on her head.

So I went back out onto the webs to see if I could find any other pics of her without the gown…. and I found THIS. It’s apparently a reproduction of statues found in tombs. It’s Sekhmet in more of a male form. I’ve seen a couple others like this on the web. Not sure how authentic a reproduction they actually are… but not sure it really matters.

Look at the number of toes. The mane. The posture. The clothing. It’s almost like the art directors used something similar as their model. It doesn’t have the typical head piece like so many other statues of her though.

Regardless, I’m taking Anubis down from my mantle. For the time being, I’m putting up Sekhmet instead… and I hope I don’t have to take her down. Great work P!
Yashoda on 06 Mar 2009 at 4:34 am #

Brilliant thinking guys! I’m also on the Sekhmet camp, mainly because of the fertility issues.

Question, though. What do we think is the significance of the fact that in Locke’s dream, Horace is cutting away at a tree, and in reality, Horace is caught blowing up trees? There must be some significance to the repetition…
leah on 06 Mar 2009 at 9:41 am #

I really like Pauline’s theory. The whole thing seems solid. Especially with the children and revenge thing.
I love this show. I pray that it doesn’t end up being a dream sequence from Locke’s brain.
Pauline on 06 Mar 2009 at 9:55 am #

Awe shucks.

To risk sounding like a freak… as a pagan I’ve worked with Sekhmet energy before as well as other goddesses of life/death and warrior goddesses and I just had a feeling. Then after doing a bit more research on Archaeology sites… it just fit. Personally, I was thrilled at the idea of a female god since it has been largely men on the island who have been running the show. (though most of the women who have survived on the island are indeed warrior type women.)

I was first thrown off by the sun disk that she is always pictured wearing but I found that most often the statues of her were without while carved images of her on walls and such showed her wearing one. The image you came up with is great. I hadn’t seen that.

Something else that is kind of interesting that I thought about last night. Sekhmet is all about duality. She has both good and bad attributes. We also saw this in deity form with the Virgin Mary statues. Think about it. Beautiful virgin outsides with nasty heroin-filled centers.

I was kinda bummed after i posted this because I did another search to see if she tied into the smoke monster and up came some other google results with other lost fans thinking about Sekhmet. Here I thought I was alone in my theory. sigh.
SamanthaJackson on 06 Mar 2009 at 10:43 am #

I won’t enter in the “ancient world” debate, but I didn’t know where else to put this little observation…. with this week’s episode, we got an explanation why Daniel was in the past, with the Dharma Initiative orientation video’s guy.
I was just looking now at the season 5 premiere again, and finally something (even if this small) made sense. Can’t wait for EVERYTHING to make sense.
John Cabrera on 06 Mar 2009 at 11:30 am #

Oh Pauline, you can’t worry about that. This blog is just a tiny little tent in the massive bazaar that is Online Lost Fandom. I didn’t put up my Anubis thoughts for over 12 hours after watching the episode. I don’t need to do a google search to know that SOMEONE (probably many) had already posted similar. There’s no way to compete against a machine that big. These ramblings are just a fun way for all of us to interact, share ideas.

Your findings are great, and certainly at the front of the Lost Theories pack. Be proud.
Elena on 06 Mar 2009 at 12:01 pm #

And what about Isis?
Erik on 06 Mar 2009 at 12:09 pm #

I love what you said about sawyer removing his glasses. Great detail. Also, I’ve been caught up wondering if the statue would turn out to be someone we know, but the idea that it’s a deity that some group on the island worshipped is very interesting.

One question though: it seems to me that that statue has to be older than Dharma. Could it have been erected by the others/hostiles? After all, the others are the ones with fertility problems — just because Dharma women don’t have fertility problems in 1977, doesn’t mean the native islanders/others/hostiles don’t already have fertility problems. I don’t really know what um talking about, just spitballing here.
DJSmackMackey on 06 Mar 2009 at 12:10 pm #

Ashley Dionne, my wife is a lawyer, and she knows plenty of Julawyers. Get it? Jew Lawyers? Thank you, I’m here all week!

As for which statue it is…well we may or may not find out. But I think, if there’s one Egyptian God/Goddess, chances are there are more. Ra, Anubis, Horus, Sekhmet, Set… they probably all are playing into it. And Atlantis can still be part of it, since the greeks and romans and egyptians and christianity all borrowed elements from each others cultures to create their own mythology.
John Cabrera on 06 Mar 2009 at 12:34 pm #

DJSmickSmack, I was in the middle of writing a reply to Ashley Dionne the other day, when I thought, “you know what? I’m gonna let DJSmackMackey take this one.” LOL.

And yeah, that’s exactly what I was getting at in my post Lost Theories Pt. 2. Plato got his version of Atlantis from the Egyptians… who in turn got it from their ancients. All playing into the same set of myths. My post for next week will go into even more of that.
Johnny Hugel on 06 Mar 2009 at 1:03 pm #

I’ll leave this one to you all, it appears you can handle it. Sawyer was on fire with his zingers, and I liked seeing more about how the others and Dharma interacted, although as usual more questions were raised about why the others had killed the Dharmaite, and the origins of the feud.

But good work people on the stuff I hadn’t considered.
Ron on 06 Mar 2009 at 1:32 pm #

I glanced at this post when John first posted it and thought to myself, “yes, clearly Anubis.” I then turned away from it since it seemed like such an easy answer.

Now I realize I shouldn’t have been such a fuckoff in my first year of college. My art history professor was an Egyptologist (and Jehova’s Witness) and I can feel him scolding me with just his stare right now.

At the risk of sounding like a sheep, I think I’ll have to fall in line here with Pauline as well. I think she’s got it. I suppose being a sheep isn’t all that bad. I mean even if we were lemmings and she was leading the way, at least we wouldn’t be running around in circles and mucking about. Pauline would lead us to the most direct path off the cliff.

Cheers!
Pauline on 06 Mar 2009 at 4:10 pm #

Gosh Ron… I’ve always wanted followers.

I have to say that Lost always tickles the student in me… Last night I felt like I was researching a paper for my Rise of Religious cult class. Made me pine for my college days as an Anthro student. So as such I had a little bit of a leg up… along with the fact that I’ve studied a lot of goddess based religions on my own as part of my belief system. I’ve also got several Isis and Bastet statues in my house… that my cat’s name is Charles Osiris.

I agree with the above statements that there will be a melding of world religions/philosophies in the future. I think that the name Horace doesn’t have to do with the god Horus but with the Roman poet Horace. During the Roman Empire Tunisia was known as ‘the bread basket’ of the empire. Also, The Romans adopted aspects of the Goddess based religions (The cults of Cybele and Isis) but eventually sort of bastardized paganism they skewed things more toward the masculine. And when Constantine became emperor, they began dismantling all things pagan.
I keep thinking that Horace forever chopping down that tree (as well as blowing up other trees) must be symbolic for something.
So then I was looking up the symbolism of trees and found: “In ancient times, the goddess Asherah was known as the “Queen of Heaven.” She was worshipped by many civilizations in the Middle East.
One of the Symbols most closely associated with her was a tree, the ancient Canaanites and Pheonicians viewed the tree as a symbol of fertility. ”
That let me to look up Asherah where at which point I began to get a headache because it was at this point when I started to realize that all of these goddesses and gods were adopted by so many different religions it is mind boggling. I was trying to get a clear shot from A to B and it was impossible. But there is a pretty convoluted connection between Asherah and Sekhmet via Hathor.

Okay… I’m getting myself confused. I’ll leave it up to you John… I’m going to hand my Lemming Leading crown over to you now. It comes with a lifetime supply of turtle wax… so enjoy!
John Cabrera on 06 Mar 2009 at 5:20 pm #

LOL. Yeah, Pauline… that’s… a lot.
Jenny on 07 Mar 2009 at 1:28 am #

I freaking love coming here after every new episode. Keep it up, yo!
TV times Three Podcast on 10 Mar 2009 at 5:44 pm #

[...] Check out this Lost post over at John Cabrera’s blog for more on Paula’s theory as discussed in this [...]
Erik on 16 Mar 2009 at 12:11 pm #

Why isn’t it only Monday? I mean, really. Can’t someone somewhere turn a freaking donkey wheel and make it Wednesday night already?
John Cabrera on 16 Mar 2009 at 12:27 pm #

When I first saw this comment in moderation, I thought you were adding it to my recent post about rock climbing… I laughed cause I thought you were saying, “screw this Movement Monday bullshit! Let’s get some Lost Wednesday action going on!” LOL!

I’m almost finished with a fun post about Atlantis. I’m gonna continue working on it tonight, so it should be up by morning.
Gordon on 24 Mar 2009 at 6:29 pm #

I think that it maybe not Anubis. Looking at this logically, if you look at Anubis his ears are way above his head unlike the statue on the island.

My best guess is that if it is an Egyptian God it’s probably the lesser known cat god BAST,
John Cabrera on 24 Mar 2009 at 10:28 pm #

Hey Gordon! Thanks for stopping by. I guess you didn’t notice the update I added to the post. I actually don’t think it’s Anubis anymore. Read Pauline’s comment about who she thinks it is. As well as my follow up comment to her. She has an amazing theory that I’m totally on board with right now.
Kelly on 03 May 2009 at 6:56 pm #

Have you seen this?

http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/lost/lost-statue-unmasked-841.html
John Cabrera on 04 May 2009 at 1:20 am #

I hadn’t, no! Thank you, Kelly! Around the time when this post went up, I actually heard a few others reference Taweret as a possibility. I’ve only really discounted it because of the slender nature of the statue. But I’m starting to think it’s a strong possibility. Stay tuned for part two of my Interview with a Sphinx series… SHould be up before the episode this week. We get into a bit of that.