Udug

The udug are described in Mesopotamian texts as beings associated with the Kur (the underworld) and are presented as distinct from the gods (dingir/Anu-nna-Ki and the Igigi). Sources do not supply a single consolidated origin myth; rather, various texts portray them as underworld‑born or underworld‑linked agents, and the category functions both as a generic label for demonic presences and as a name applied to specific named shadow‑demons.

No secure pictorial type for the udug is attested in the surviving material; sources state that no definitive visual representations have been identified. In incantatory descriptions udug are characterized as shadowlike and formless — 'the one who... was not called by name... never appeared with a form' — and are associated with darkness, absence of light, and occasionally with motifs such as poison or an overpowering voice. Some scholars have tentatively proposed possible depictions (e.g., figures on cylinder seals or paired images with Lama at doorways), but these identifications remain interpretive and not definitive.

In the exorcistic corpus the 'evil udug' is primarily linked to causing physical and mental illness and misfortune; many incantations focus on driving out the evil udug to cure disease. Textual descriptions emphasize a shadowlike, formless presence, venom/poison, and a deafening voice. Certain named demons within the broader category (e.g., Mukīl rēš lemutti) are described as capable of possessing or afflicting human bodies; possession is therefore attested for some allied or named entities rather than as a universally detailed attribute in every text. The tradition also records 'good udug' invoked as protective allies against hostile udug.