Branchidiai and Apkallu (1)

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The name of the family of priests in the Apollo sanctuary at Didyma was Branchidiai. There is a tempting association - branchia means gills of fish in Greek, as apkallu in Mesopotamia was a man with the head of a fish, worn like a mask over his head, carrying an instrument of purification in his right hand and a water bucket in his left.

Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi 3.23-28:
And in [my dream] I [saw] a remarkable young [man … ] holding in his hand a tamarisk rod of purification … the water he was carrying he threw over me, pronounced the life-giving incantation, and rubbed [my body].

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.48.4:
And Apollodorus of Kerkyra says that these lines were recited by Branchos the (Apollonian) seer, when purifying the Milesians from plague; for he, sprinkling the multitude with branches of laurel, led off the hymn somehow as follows: “Sing Boys Hekaergus and Hekaerga.” And the people accompanied him, saying, “Bedu, Zaps, Chthon, Plektron, Sphinx, Knaxzbi, Chthyptes, Phlegmos, Drops.” Kallimachos relates the story in iambics.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.48.4
Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi 3.23-28

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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