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and the various classes of demons, utukku, alu, etc., are introduced. Compare this now with some passages in a prayer addressed to Marduk: A resting-place for the lord of E-makh-tila is thy house. E-sagila, the house of thy sovereignty, is thy house. May the city speak 'rest' to thee thy house. May Babylon speak peace to thee thy house.
I.e., 'old age, the name given to some plant of magic power. Tû. Lit., 'good. Utukku the name, it will be recalled, given to a class of demons. See p. 260. See p. 518. See above, p. 474. Haupt's edition, pp. 67, 12. Lit., 'thou hast seen it, I have seen it. Text defective. Jeremias conjectures "kneeling." Ekimmu, another name for a class of demons. See p. 260. Amer. Or.
Immediately following the incantation comes one directed against the demons: I raise the torch, their images I burn, Of the utukku, the shedu, the rabisu, the ekimmu, The labartu, the labasi, the akhkhasu, Of lilu and lilitu and ardat lili, And every evil that seizes hold of men. Tremble, melt away, and disappear! The witch who has caused the evil may be unknown.
Bad dreams came at the instigation of the demons, and such a demon as the rabisu or the labartu appears to have been especially associated with the horrible sensations aroused by a 'nightmare. Again the utukku is represented at times as attacking the neck of man; the gallu attacks the hand, the ekimmu the loins, the alu the breast. But these distinctions count for little in the texts.
The names of many of them, as utukku, shedu, alu, gallu, point to 'strength' and 'greatness' as their main attribute; other names, as lilu, 'night-spirit, and the feminine form lilitu, are indicative of the moment chosen by them for their work; while again, names like ekimmu, the 'seizer, akhkhazu, the 'capturer, rabisu, 'the one that lies in wait, labartu, 'the oppressor, and labasu, 'the overthrower, show the aim that the demons have in view.
The text proceeds: The utukku that seizes hold of a man, The ekimmu that seizes hold of a man, The ekimmu that works evil, The utukku that works evil.
Utukku becomes a general name for demon, and gallu, alu, and shedu are either used synonymously with utukku or thrown together with the latter in a manner that clearly shows the general identity of the conceptions ultimately connected with them. The same is the case with the rabisu and gallu, with the labartu, akhkhazu, and ekimmu.
As appears from the extracts above translated, the utukku, shedu, alu, and ekimmu were grouped together, and hardly regarded as anything more than descriptive epithets of a general class of demons. At the same time it appears likely that at one time they were differentiated with a greater degree of preciseness.
The utukku of the field and the utukku of the mountain, The utukku of the sea and the one that lurks in graves, The evil shedu, the shining alu. The evil wind, the terrible wind, That sets one's hair on end. Against these the spirits of heaven and earth are invoked.
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