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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.
So the ekimmu appears to be the shadowy demon that hovers around graves, a species of ghost or vampire that attacks people in the dead of night and lays them prostrate. Lilu and lilitu are the spirits that flit by in the night.
Then follows the incantation which he is to recite: The evil ulukku, alu, ekimmu, The evil gallu, the evil god, rabisu, Labartu, labasu, akhkhazu, Lilu and lilit and ardat lili, Sorcery, charm, bewitchment, The sickness, the cruel artifice, Their head against his head, Their hand against his hand, Their foot against his foot, May they not place, May they never draw nigh.
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.
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.
In this respect they resembled the demons, and it is noticeable that an important class of demons was known by the name ekimmu, which is one of the common terms for the shades of the dead. This fear of the dead, which is the natural corollary to the reverence felt for them, enters as an important factor in the honors paid by the living to the memory of the deceased.
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.
Rassam Cylinder, col. vii. ll. 46-48. ekimmu. See p. 580. See p. 578. Heuzey offers another explanation of the scene which is less plausible. Hebrew word Sak. Inscription B, col. v. ll. 3-5. Lane, Modern Egyptians, ll. 286. See p. 575. Ib. See p. 487. Hagen, Cyrus-Texte, ib. and p. 248.
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 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.
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