Vampires in Ancient Babylon and Assyria

There are numerous vampiric monsters mentioned in the mythologies of Babylon and Assyria. Montague Summers has suggested that vampires may have had a major role in Mesopotamian mythology. Melton, J. G. (1999). The Vampire Book. 2 ed. p.27-28
== Seven Evil Spirits ==
The seven evil spirits are considered the closest equivalent to the traditional European vampire in Mesopotamia. They are described in the following poem:Seven they are! Seven are they!
Spirits that minish the heaven and earth,
That minish the land. Spirits that minish the land,
Of giant strength, Of giant strength and giant tread,
Demons (like raging bulls, great ghosts), 
Ghosts that break through all houses,
Demons that have no shame, Seven are they!
Knowing no care, they grind the land like corn;
Knowing no mercy they rage against mankind,
They spill their blood like rain,
Devouring their flesh (and) sucking their veins.
They are demons full of violence, ceaselessly devouring blood.
== Ekimmu ==
An ekimmu was a spirit of a person who was left unburied. 
Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, is portrayed as a dark, miserable place where a spirit's quality of life depended on them getting a proper burial with their corpse being treated well. This is elaborated on in the Gilgamesh and the Netherworld, where the degrees of comfort for the dead are explained. At the end is a passage describing how a person who dies unburied in the desert does not have their spirit rest in the earth (i.e. the underworld), and have to maintain their existence using leftovers. Summers understands the passage as meaning that the sprits, the ekimmu, linger on the earth, and then links them to earlier passages about exorcising ghosts. More recent scholarship though has instead suggested that the passage instead means that, though in the underworld, they cannot rest there, but roam around. Being spirits of Kur, they are corporeal, and not merely insubstantial ghosts. A more recent version of the passage than what Summers used, thanks to modern scholarship, is as follows (translation by David Ferry):And he whose corpse was thrown away unburied? He wanders without rest through the world down there.
The One who goes to the Netherworld without leaving behind anyone to mourn for him?
Garbage is what he eats in the Netherworld. No dog would eat the food he has to eat.The ekkimu, who Summers used as the main evidence for his theory on the prominence of vampires, being underworld vampires means that they were probably not as prominent in Mesopotamian mythology owing to them being clearly separated from the ghosts Summers was confusing them with. 
== Further Reading ==
* Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse, Ferry, D.
* Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria, Spence, L.
* The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, Summers, M.
* The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Thompson, E.
* Semitic Magic: Its Origin and Development, Thompson, E.
== References ==
Category:The Vampire Book
Category:Vampires