utukku
Also called udug, Udug-hul.
The utukku — Sumerian udug — is Mesopotamia's demon at large: a class originally neutral enough to be prayed for as a guardian, and feared in the incantations as the evil lurker of desert and graveyard.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Mesopotamian mythology
- Region
- Mesopotamia (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Stone-Gazers
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Omens
- Danger in mere glimpse
why
In the later compendia the utukku appears fully specialized: an evil spirit that lurks in the desert lying in wait for travelers, that haunts graveyards, mountains, and even the sea, and whose mere sight dooms the seer to a grim fate.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Shadow carries both readings
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Utukku."
- Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, s.v. "Utukku."
- R. Campbell Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia.
- Robert Lebling, Legends of the Fire Spirits, p. 2010.
- Death meets
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Utukku."
- Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, s.v. "Utukku."
- R. Campbell Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia.
- Robert Lebling, Legends of the Fire Spirits, p. 2010.
- Hero meets
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Utukku."
- Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, s.v. "Utukku."
- R. Campbell Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia.
- Robert Lebling, Legends of the Fire Spirits, p. 2010.