Juliet = Circe and Medusa
Prometheus was a Titan who sided with Zeus in the war against his father, Chronos. Prometheus (whose name means "forethought") and his brother Epimetheus (whose name means "afterthought") were given the task of assigning characteristics and attributes to animals and man. Epimetheus gave all the best gifts to the animals, such as speed, size, strength, wings, fur, and so on. Because he failed to think ahead, there was nothing special left to distinguish man from the animals. So Prometheus gave mankind the gift of fire. Some say he also gave man knowledge. Zeus was not especially happy about Prometheus' love for mankind, and he also had a beef with him over a secret that Prometheus was keeping. Zeus had overthrown Chronos, who had overthrown Uranus, and there was a prophecy that Zeus would also father a son who would overthrow him. Prometheus apparently knew the identity of the boy's mother, but would not reveal it. This presented quite a dilemma for Zeus, who impregnated women left and right. On top of that, Prometheus had tricked Zeus into accepting the bones and fat of animals as sacrifice to the gods, instead of the meat, which he reserved for mankind. He did this by dressing the fat and bones to look pretty, while wrapping up the meat and hiding it under entrails. Then he asked Zeus which one he preferred. Zeus chose the pretty one, to his dismay. So, for one or all of these transgressions, Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock, and each day a giant eagle named Ethon would eat Prometheus' liver, which would then grow back, and the process would start all over again. Eventually, Prometheus was saved from this torture when the centaur Chiron offered to take his place, and Zeus accepted.
Mr. Friendly's name seems ironic until you realize that he represents Prometheus, the great friend of mankind. Is it possible that the "vaccine" is the "Lost" equivalent of the knowledge that Prometheus bestowed on man? It is certainly no coincidence that the island has a ship named the Black Rock, which is equipped with chains and has dynamite in the hold. Nor is it a coincidence that a large bird has been seen in that area.
On “Lost,” we’ve been presented with a double twist. When Danielle first mentioned the Black Rock, we assumed it was actually a rock, and were stunned to find that it was a ship. In reality, it does represent a rock! The chains in the ship were the chains that held Prometheus. The large bird that was seen in that area is the eagle, Ethon. This is probably also the "monster" that took the pilot from the plane, and lifted Shannon to her death in Boone’s hallucination. Both the pilot and Shannon looked as though they had been pecked bloody by a giant bird. The fact that Tom is annoyed with Ethan in “Maternity Leave” picks up on the idea of the eagle (Ethon) pecking at Prometheus. The dynamite in the hold of the ship may represent the fire that Prometheus gave to man, or it could represent Zeus' thunderbolt, or perhaps a lethal combination of the two, as fire sets off the "thunderbolt." Notice that the letters in “Portsmouth” are very close to the letters in “Prometheus.”
It has been observed by poster Melroseman on the newsgroup alt.tv.lost that the word "Portsmouth" was also seen on a cigarette ad outside a gas station in "The Long Con." Since this is a fictitious brand, the sign was created specially for the show. Here is a screencap. We've already noted the similarity between the letters in Portsmouth and Prometheus, so it makes sense, given Prometheus' gift of fire, that the name is used for a brand of cigarettes.
Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus, but he lacked his brother's forethought. Because Epimetheus bestowed all the best attributes on the animals, there was nothing left for mankind, so Prometheus gave man the gift of fire. Zeus, who wanted to punish mankind for being such a favorite with Prometheus, decided to send Pandora, whose name means "the gift of all." He presented Pandora to Epimetheus as a bride. Despite having been warned by Prometheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus was charmed by Pandora and took her as his wife. Then Zeus had each god put something harmful in a box, which he gave to Pandora and told her not to open. But her curiosity got the best of her. She opened the box, and out flew all sorts of plagues and sorrows. By the time she shut the lid, the only thing left inside was Hope. And all this came about because of Epimetheus' lack of forethought.
On "Lost," Ethan infiltrates the Losties' camp and abducts Claire and Charlie. Tom is angry with him for not bringing back "the list" before abducting Claire. Perhaps this represents Ethan's lack of forethought. Certainly he demonstrates more of the same when he grows fond of Claire and takes her on a walk outside the medical bunker. It was this excursion that enabled Claire to locate the bunker in "Maternity Leave."
Ethan also represents the mythological figure of Aristeas (the Bee-man), a death symbol. It is Aristeas who chases Eurydice and causes her to step on a snake, which bites her foot and kills her. She is taken down to the Underworld, and her husband, Orpheus, descends to retrieve her.
On the show, Ethan acts as a snake in the grass when he abducts Claire. He brings her to the medical bunker, which has the caduceus symbol on its door. This symbol shows entwined snakes. He then injects her with a needle, "stinging" her. For more details on this story, see Charlie Pace and Claire Littleton.
Another brother Titan was Menoetius (also spelled Menoitios), who represented violence, anger and mortality. Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt for his overbearing, insolent behavior, and sent him to Tartarus (which is even farther down than Hades). Another myth says that when Hercules had to steal the cattle of Geryon as one of his Twelve Labors, Menoetius (Hades' shepherd) alerted Geryon.
Although the source of the phony Henry Gale's name is probably Project Ozma (See Wikipedia), Minnesota works nicely as his place of origin because the letters in Minnesota are similar to those in Menoetius. Ben/Henry claims to be a rich man who mined non-metallic minerals, and the University of Minnesota teams are called the Golden Gophers. This fits nicely with Menoetius' location in Tartarus. Henry seems to provoke anger in others (witness his beating by Sayid), as well as being overbearing and insolent himself. His connection to cattle is shown when he asks Jack and Locke if they've got milk for the DHARMA cereal, and when he notes that they don't have cheeseburgers to feed him. Locke gives Ben/Henry the book The Brothers Karamazov to read, which is about four brothers of different personalities and temperaments, who are involved in the death of their father.
The Minotaur was a beast that was half-man and half-bull. He was housed in a labyrinth on the island of Crete by King Minos. Because the king failed to sacrifice a beautiful white bull to Poseidon, the sea god cursed Minos' wife, Pasiphae, and made her fall in love with the bull. She bore a child who was half-man and half-bull. Minos had Daedalus build the labyrinth for the Minotaur, and periodically the city of Athens was required to send seven young men and seven young women to Crete to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. This was the price of a victory that Minos had won over the Greek city. Theseus, the son of the Athenian king, offered to go to Crete himself as one of the victims, and kill the beast. With the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne, he was able to enter the labyrinth and kill the Minotaur with his bare fists, and then escape.
Ben is captured like a beast in Danielle's net, and subsequently taken to the underground Swan hatch, where he is beaten severely by Sayid. Ben later tells Jack, "I mean, let's face it, if I had told you I was one of those people that you and your friends have been calling Others all this time, it would have been right back to Sayid and his... fists." Certain dialogue between Ben and Locke, during Ben's time in the hatch armory, reflects a definite bovine trend:
Ben: No cheeseburgers, huh?
Not only do they mention cheeseburgers and bullfighting, but Locke's comment about Ben's ears references the tradition in bullfighting in which the victorious matador is given the ears of the bull as a kind of trophy. Ben also uses words with "Min" in them repeatedly:
Ben: I'm from MINnesota. University of MINnesota. MINing. We MINed non-metallic MINerals. I'm from MINnesota and I crashed on this island.
BenjaMIN's first name also contains "min," and his last name, Linus, rhymes with Minos. Since the name Ben means "son," the writers are playing with the concept of "son of Minos" in Ben's name, because Minos was the Minotaur's foster father. Another connection to bulls is the pair of bull nose pliers that Sayid takes into the hatch. He first used this torture device on his commanding officer, Tariq, in the first Gulf War. These pliers are shaped like bull leads, which are used to lead the animal by grasping its nose.
Ben comically wraps up his identity with the classic comment to Jack and Locke, "You guys got any milk?"
Demeter was the goddess of agriculture. Her name means “grain mother.” Demeter had a daughter by Zeus, named Persephone. One day, Hades abducted Persephone and took her to the Underworld. Only Helios, the sun god, saw what happened. When Demeter found this out from him, she grew despondent. She left Olympus and went to Earth, disguising herself and wandering about in search of her daughter. Her attention was drawn away from the harvest, and the plants did not grow. During this time, she was taken in by a woman with a baby son. Demeter nursed the baby and anointed him with ambrosia. At night, she placed him in the fire to give him eternal youth. But the boy’s mother was uneasy, and one night she watched what Demeter did, and screamed in terror. Demeter, angered, threw the child to the ground. He would not have immortality, but he would still have honor in his life because of her association with him. The mother built a temple to Demeter, and the goddess sat there pining for her lost daughter. She said that no plants would grow until she had her daughter back. Zeus decided to allow Persephone to return home, but by the time his messenger, Hermes, arrived in the Underworld, she had already eaten the seeds of a pomegranate that Hades gave her. Once food has been eaten in the Underworld, one cannot return to Earth. But Zeus arranged a compromise, whereby Persephone would spend spring and summer with Demeter, and fall and winter with Hades. (Some say she would only winter with Hades.) The crops grew again because Demeter was reunited with her daughter.
Danielle has been on the island for 16 years. Her daughter, Alex, was abducted when she was an infant, and Danielle has searched for her ever since. Some of the Losties think Danielle is crazy, but Sayid says she has been alone too long. Since flight 815 took off on the autumn equinox, it is now autumn on the island, and Danielle does not have Alex with her. The story of Demeter and the baby boy was replayed when Danielle stole Aaron from Claire. Sayid and Charlie eventually found her on the beach, near a large fire, and demanded the baby back.
Best dialogue pun and clue to Danielle’s identity:
After Hurley speaks with Danielle alone, in “Numbers,” he delivers a message from her to Sayid: “She says hey.” (Hay)
Aside from her mythological identity, the character of Danielle is an homage to Germaine Dieterlen, a French anthropologist who, along with her partner, Marcel Griaule, lived among the Dogon people for 16 years before the elders of the tribe trusted them enough to share the secrets of their beliefs. Griaule died well before Dieterlen, and is symbolized by Danielle's dead husband, Robert. Danielle's name is probably derived from Daniel Benest, one of the French astronomers who concluded in 1995 that Sirius C must exist. (I should add that Danielle means "judged by God," and it was Zeus' judgement that allowed Persephone to spend half the year with Demeter, and half in the Underworld.) The name Robert is most likely a nod to Robert Temple, author of The Sirius Mystery. It was Dieterlen and Griaule's work, A Sudanese Sirius System, that Temple had translated from French to form the basis for the research in his book. It's interesting that when Shannon is struggling to translate Danielle's French writing for Sayid, he says, "Perhaps some things are best left untranslated." If the world is not ready for the revelation about the Nommos, then this is certainly true!
Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. She was abducted by Hades and dragged down to the Underworld. The earth simply opened up and he took her. Only Hades and Helios, the sun god, saw what happened. Her mother, Demeter, was despondent and searched desperately for her. Once in the Underworld, although she missed her mother very much, Persephone also grew fond of Hades. If she ate anything in the Underworld, she could never return to our world. She ate 7 pomegranate seeds that Hades gave her as a token of love. As a compromise, though, Persephone was allowed to live with her mother for half of the year (spring & summer). During the other half (fall & winter), she had to reside in the underworld, where she was queen and hostess. Spring is a harbinger of Persephone’s return to earth. Some versions of the story have Persephone living with her mother for 8 months, and only spending winter in the Underworld, but I think the writers of “Lost” are using the ½ ratio.
Alex is the daughter of Danielle Rousseau. She was stolen when she was an infant. She and Danielle had just two months together before this happened. Danielle wanders the island, including the “Dark Territory,” searching for her daughter. In “Maternity Leave,” we seem to have been introduced to the 16-year-old Alex, in the DHARMA medical bunker. She helped Claire escape. Since flight 815 took off at the time of the autumn equinox, it is now autumn on the island, and Alex is in the Underworld. She will probably remain there until spring arrives on the island.
Alexandra is probably named after the city of Alexandria, Egypt. When she helps Claire escape from the medical bunker, Alex wears a shirt with red and black stripes, which are also found on the flag of Egypt. See Walt Lloyd = Erichthonius for more on this topic. The name Alexandra also means "helper and defender of mankind."
On the updated Hanso Foundation web site, a character named Persephone asks for a password, which turns out to be "breakingstrain." Various references to "breaking strain" are discussed here. It's significant that Persephone appears on the Hanso site, because I've identified Alvar Hanso with Hades, and Persephone was Hades' wife.
Tom (Mr. Friendly) = Prometheus
The Black Rock out of Portsmouth = The Rock to Which Prometheus was Chained
Ethan Rom = Epimetheus and Aristeas
Benjamin Linus (aka Henry Gale) = Menoetius and the Minotaur
Locke: No cheeseburgers. Bon appetit.
Ben: Is that true... what you said about Hemingway?
Locke: You have good ears.
Ben: You have thin doors.
Locke: You read Hemingway?
Ben: Sure, guy ran with the bulls, fought in the Spanish Civil War, stuff I can wrap my brain around. This I can't get through five pages of...
Locke: Well, Dostoyevsky had his virtues, too. He was a genius, for one. Bullfighting isn't everything.
Danielle Rousseau = Demeter
Alex = Persephone and Aega (Aex)
Karl = Pan
Danny Pickett = Picus
Colleen Pickett = Callisto and Canens
Bea Klugh = Arachne
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