Greek civilization had its prominence in ancient Egypt.
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt at an early stage of his great journey of conquests. He respected the pharaonic religions and customs and he was declared by the priest, Pharaoh of Egypt. This meant that an Outsider could become the Leader of Egyptian society. In the order of power, the gods ruled the earth and spirit worlds, the Pharaoh was the leader of the kingdom, the priests served both the gods and their leader, and then the people were the followers. When Ilana remarked that Frank could be "a candidate" we think a new leader of the followers or Others. This would follow the tradition of an Outsider becoming a ruler in Egypt.
Alexander the Great established the city of Alexandria. After his death, his enormous empire was divided among his generals. Egypt was given to Ptolmeny I Soter, whose descendants would give Egypt her final royal dynasty - a glittering one, but largely Greek in flavor.
The initial objective of Ptolemy's reign was to establish firm and broad boundaries to his newly-acquired kingdom. That led to almost continuous warfare against other leading members of Alexander's circle. Ptolemy and his descendants show respect to Egypt's most cherished traditions - those of religion - and turn them to their own advantage. Alexandria becomes the centre of the Greek and Hellenistic world and the center of international commerce, art and sciences. The Lighthouse was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Library was the biggest library in the world until it was destroyed. It appeared to contain all the knowledge of mankind. Scholars today believe the ancient scientists had all the technical and scientific knowledge to create water and steam powered machines, computer gears, and complex calculating clocks, which we would consider modern engineering in the 20th Century.The last Pharaoh was a Greek princess, Cleopatra. This is an interesting connection because recently I remarked that Kate's personality reminded me of Cleopatra, in the fact that she seemed to bounce back and forth toward men in power or control. She is not one not to use her sex appeal to get want she wants. Cleopatra was twenty-one when she first met Julius Caesar in 48 BCE. She was twenty-eight when she first met Mark Antony. She is thirty-nine when she applied the asp to her breast in 30 BCE, a year after her soldiers were defeated in the Battle of Actium. With her defeat, Egypt remained under Roman control for the next six centuries.
As the Middle East was the cross roads of the Silk and Spice Roads, conquests from Asian tribes like the Huns, to Muslim forces, has created a melting pot of blood shed, revenge, war to world war domination. After the world wars, the British controlled much of North Africa. But the British divided into states in which the people living there found untenable. It resulted in more conflicts. The cultural and institutional nature of revenge and territorial conflicts has created a never ending cycle of warfare in the region.
So, the Island contains fragments from all the great human civilizations, who have passed through the Island at some point during time.
And this may be the context of MIB lament to Jacob that men who come to the Island use their primal motivation to fight, war, destroy and corrupt a peaceful place like the island.
I have come to conclude that the Island is its own character in this long narrative. The Island has not been given a Name. Which is curious. For if the Island's name was given early on, then the big mystery may be solved: what is the Island?
Two large clues have been hidden in plain sight: the Hatch countdown timer warning message, and the symbols around the Frozen Donkey Wheel.
Both the Hatch and the FDW sit upon what has been described as a unique electromagnetic property. Some theorists have speculated that it would be a wormhole, or a dimensional rift in the space-time continuum. Others have speculated that it could be the energy force from alien technology, a time machine.
I speculate that Jughead's atomic bomb did not go off at the end of Season 5. The white flash was the island being moved to save Eloise (the leader) and her unborn child. As we have seen, turning the FDW "moves" the Island from its location, and deposits the turner in North Africa at a different time period. We also have seen if the FDW is not set properly, people can "time skip" on the island.
It is clear that Dharma and the Others have knowledge of the special electromagnetic properties of the island. Dharma appears to have less working knowledge of the matter, as it was setting up stations in order to observe and understand it before making use of it. The Others, including Ben as their leader, know HOW to use it - - - especially in the case of emergencies. Moving the FDW is like a fail safe key to move the Island so Outsiders cannot find it.
At the Hatch site, we see that Radzinsky's reckless drilling causes the pocket of EM to suck all metal objects down to the underground source. I am speculating since the Judghead device did not explode, WHH and Dharma followed Faraday's advice and buried the bomb deep in a concrete bunker that Desmond remarked reminded him of Cherynobl. Then, in order to contain the pressures of the drilled EM pocket, the Hatch station was constructed next to the concrete bomb bunker. The Hatch's purpose had to be to equalize the EM destructive downward forces against the Island surface. As a result of these opposite forces, pressure would build up that had to be released every 108 minutes in order to keep the forces in balance. It was so important, that it could not be left to computers alone. What happens when the Numbers were not put into the release controller in time? All Hell would break loose, and the warning on the clock would turn to state:
HE ESCAPES PLACE OF DEATH.
As previously discussed, the warning message clearly indicates a "He," a person or entity, being released (escapes) a place of death (Hell? the Underworld? a Prison?) It must be a reference to keeping a destructive (evil) force at bay for the benefit of the Island inhabitants.
The entity is not Smokey, because it has been seen throughout the Island when the Hatch was operating properly. Ben even summoned "protection" from the underground tunnel under the Barracks by releasing water down a hole to release Smokey from his Temple lair. Why water is the que to get Smokey on the loose is interesting; ancient scientists used water as the power source to start complex machines and illusions in Temple ceremonies. It is possible that Smokey is an ancient steampunk security system designed to wipe out evil forces that come to the Island.
Another story line focal point has been the Frozen Donkey Wheel. This is the chamber where both Ben and Locke met their destiny moments of sacrificing part of themselves for the sake of a bigger purpose, protecting the Island. Hidden deep below ground, allegedly near a pocket of special energy, in a cold chamber is a wooden gear wheel surrounded by more Egyptian glyphs, translated to mean:
OPEN SIDE (EARTH) GATES TO ETERNITIES.
This has to be the best evidence of what the Island is: a nexus point between worlds. Since the Island has been built up by deference to ancient Egyptian beliefs, the phrase can easily be broken down to state that is device allows one to open an earth portal (a gate) to the afterlife. The pyramids and Sphinx were designed as part of Temples to make sure that rulers and leaders would be able to make their dangerous journey through the afterlife to paradise. The Temples were aligned with cosmic and heavenly objects and stars to make sure that the journey would match the myth of Ra's nightly cycle through the underworld.
In ancient Egyptian culture, departed souls would reach a pagan paradise where they would toil in the fields of the gods, while others would go into the underworld to have their heart weighed in the final judgment on whether they would pass onto eternal paradise. The Island could the the intersection of different, supernatural realms of good and evil. This could explain why our perception natural laws and physics seem not to apply to aspects of Island as a reason why there is no scientific or scientific theory explanation for the supernatural elements in the show. The Island is a different realm, a bridge between Earth (and its laws of physics) and a spirit world (where anything goes).
My Nexus-Buffer Theory is premised on the adaptation that Lost is a variation of Paradise Lost (with elements of Dante’s Inferno and Egyptian mythology of the battle between Horus and Seth).
In Milton’s world view, the universe was represented just like the mobile above Aaron’s crib. The universe of planets, sun and stars was encapsulated by waters which fed the Earth and kept the raging forces of Chaos at bay. Outside the Universe sphere are the separate spheres of Heaven and Hell. In Dante’s work, after the rebellion in heaven, Satan and his devils were cast into Hell in the midst of Chaos. God then created a new universe which housed a new creature, Man, on Earth. Satan built a bridge to Earth through Chaos and brought evil to mankind, which lead to the banishment of man from Eden to the mortality of Earth. In the Egyptian world, followers or non-believers would pass to the pagan paradise, fields like on Earth, where they would toil to serve the departed leaders and gods forever. These pagan workers would not really know that they had passed on to another world or realm because they did not believe in it. The true religious believers would have to pass many tests through the underworld in order to get to the final chamber to have their heart weighed against a feather. If the heart was weighed down by sin or evil, final judgment would be punishment and the end of one's existence. If the heart weighed less than a feather, then the person's body and soul would be reconstituted in heaven (paradise) for all the eternities. In a religion context, the Garden of Eden could be considered a way station between pagan Earth and the Heavens. Once Adam and Eve disobeyed God's will (being tricked by Satan as a snake to eat the forbidden fruit, an apple), they were banished to Earth to toil like the animals. (There may be a clue in the last ABC promo for the premiere of LOST, a flash of the statement "Plant a good seed and you will joyfully gather fruit." Sounds biblical to me.)
In another religion context, man has both a body and soul. Upon death on earth, one’s soul travels to another plane of existence. Some religions base that upon the sins of the past; others various stages of enlightenment and reincarnation; hell (punishment), purgatory (penance), limbo (pagan paradise) or heaven (resurrection, eternal paradise). In the afterlife, souls have new bodies (vessels). Various stages of the afterlife may be present in the ether of the after world, as the soul is cleansed of its mortal sins toward a path of enlightenment on final judgment. The mind would control afterlife matter.
In Egypt, conflicts during one's lifetime may continue in one's afterlife. The ancient gods would continually fight among themselves both in the living world and in the underworld. All in the name of gaining control or power over the Kingdoms. In biblical readings, God ruled the heavens and paradise. He created a Son to whom he gave great power, which made other loyal angels jealous. When called to task about this new power structure, many angels rebelled against God, but God and his Son were victorious and cast those who challenged them into the abyss of Chaos or Hell (concept of Fallen Angels or Demons). Satan was the leader of the Fallen Angels, who continued to plot his return through the interference and growth of evil on Earth.
What was left in Milton and Dante’s works was the revenge of Satan against God. There is an inference that Satan at some time would rise up to fight another battle for heaven. As Satan had found a path to invade his spiritual form to Earth, it would probably be much harder to breach the gates of heaven.
Thus, we get to the Island. The Island is a way station, a nexus point between the gates of heaven and the afterlife universe. The Hatch and the Numbers were the mechanism to maintain an electromagnetic barrier between the nexus bridge and the gates of heaven so Satan’s minions could not invade. When the numbers were not imputed to vent the EM, an alarm would sound, an internal barrier would drop and symbols would appear to say “He escapes place of Death.” Once the EM force field was down, breached or compromised, the nexus point (island) was exposed - - and other souls (devils) could arrive through either Chaos or through a gate to Earth to take control of this strategic place.
The basic assumption watching the show is that the characters are alive. They survived the plane crash. But in the jumbled time looping, flash back and flash forward story lines, is that really confirmed as true? It is possible to speculate that the passengers on 815 were already in their afterlives, having already died prior to Flight 815. In the flashbacks, there are clues that these characters died: examples -- Hurley: deck collapse; Kate: car accidents; Sayid: Iraq war casualty; Rose: terminal cancer; Rousseau: shipwreck; Desmond: lost at sea in small boat. They may not actually know they are "dead" per se, as their mind and soul is just beginning its long journey through the afterlife and judgment. (In ancient Egyptian culture, various parts of the body and soul transmute into the afterlife to be reconstructed after various stages of being in the afterlife.) How everyone got on the plane is like the comment from Defending Your Life, how one imagines their demise is how they are transported to the next level of existence. But if one comes to grips with the concept that the Island is itself a spiritual realm, it does not matter if the 815 characters are alive or dead . . . they are in a magical place where the concept of one's own death can be suspended, altered, changed or determined by higher forces than nature.
Three characters have been called "special." If one looks at their situation with a more objective notion of time and place, one could conclude that they were either stillborn, or died shortly after birth. This would mean that they had no mortal sins. Ben (premature and born on roadside), Locke (mother hit by car, premature), and Alex (mother shipwrecked or died of the sickness). When Ben stated that he was born on the island, it may be a reference that he was actually arrived in the afterlife as a "rarity," a human soul without mortal sin. This would imply that he would have angelic powers. But those powers could be corrupted by other, fallen angels or Satan’s minions.
And this could be the ultimate struggle Jacob and MIB were discussing on the beach
