Hey there, I'm trying to literally translate 8 lines of Herodotus, but have gotten stuck, any help would be good. I don't prefer to use online translations as they aren't literal translations and this exercise requires that. Thanks.
Οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι, πρὶν μὲν ἢ Ψαμμήτιχον σφέων βασιλεῦσαι, ἐνόμιζον ἑωυτοὺς πρώτους γενέσθαι πάντων ἀνθρώπων: ἐπειδὴ δὲ Ψαμμήτιχος βασιλεύσας ἠθέλησε εἰδέναι οἵτινες γενοίατο πρῶτοι, ἀπὸ τούτου νομίζουσι Φρύγας προτέρους γενέσθαι ἑωυτῶν, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἑωυτούς. Ψαμμήτιχος δὲ ὡς οὐκ ἐδύνατο πυνθανόμενος πόρον οὐδένα τούτου ἀνευρεῖν, οἳ γενοίατο πρῶτοι ἀνθρώπων, ἐπιτεχνᾶται τοιόνδε.
So far I've got: The Egyptians, before Psammetichus ruled them, thought themselves to be born first of all humans. Since Psammetichus who was king wanted to know who were first, from this they thought that Phrygians were born first...
I can't get past there, any help is MUCH appreciated.
Thanks