PsammetikhusPsammetichus

A king of Egypt mentioned by the historian Herodotus.

When Psammetikhus assumed the throne (circa 665 BCE), the Egyptians considered themselves to be the oldest race of humans on earth; Psammetikhus decided to conduct a scientific experiment in order to determine whether or not the Egyptians were in fact the first humans; he took two newborn children of common birth, that is, not royalty, and sequestered them on a farm; the adults who raised the children were instructed to never speak in the presence of the children; the idea was to see what language the children would speak after they were beyond the age of childish babble; their first word was “bekos,” which was the Phrygian word for bread; from this experiment, Psammetikhus determined that the Phrygians were undoubtedly the oldest human race on earth.

Psammetikhus is also important in Greek history because he was responsible for allowing Greeks from Karia (Caria) and Ionia to settle in Egypt; he also put Egyptian boys in the Greek settlement so that they might learn the Greek language, thus becoming interpreters; this made it possible for Greek travelers and scholars to study in Egypt.

• Histories, book 2, chapters 2, 28-30 and 151-161