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Nefertiti as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Nefertiti

The Egyptian queen who championed the sun disc and vanished

c. 1370–c. 1330 BCEgypt (Amarna)

Great Royal Wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, who with him championed the worship of the sun disc Aten and moved the court to the new city of Akhetaten (Amarna). She appears in art with unusual prominence, even smiting enemies like a king. Her fate after about the sixteenth year of Akhenaten's reign is debated; some scholars think she ruled as a pharaoh in her own right.

Talk to Nefertiti out loud in the Yuga app.

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Questions to ask

  • What happened to you after Year 16?
  • Did you rule Egypt as pharaoh?
  • What was life like in Amarna?
  • What do you think of your bust being in Berlin?
  • Why did you and Akhenaten worship only the Aten?

Which Nefertiti picks up

  • 1342 BCEAkhetaten (Amarna). In her late twenties, around Akhenaten's twelfth regnal year, she presides with him over a great reception of foreign tribute.
  • 1351 BCEThebes (Karnak). Early in the reign, shown in a temple to the Aten at Karnak performing rituals and smiting enemies.
  • 1336 BCEAmarna. Around Year 16, when a newly found graffito still names her as Great Royal Wife, shortly before her trail goes cold.

Questions about Nefertiti

Who was Nefertiti?
Great Royal Wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, who with him championed the worship of the sun disc Aten and moved the court to the new city of Akhetaten (Amarna). She appears in art with unusual prominence, even smiting enemies like a king. Her fate after about the sixteenth year of Akhenaten's reign is debated; some scholars think she ruled as a pharaoh in her own right.
Can you talk to Nefertiti with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Nefertiti, set in Akhetaten, 1342 BCE. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Nefertiti's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Nefertiti say about religious role?
Reliefs show her offering to the Aten alongside, and sometimes without, the king, receiving the Aten's rays; this documents her role rather than her words. Source: Amarna tomb and temple reliefs; Karnak talatat blocks.
What did Nefertiti say about royal power?
Shown smiting foreign captives, an image usually reserved for kings. Source: Talatat blocks from Karnak and Hermopolis; reliefs on a royal barge.
What did Nefertiti say about the Aten?
The Great Hymn to the Aten, attributed to Akhenaten, expresses the doctrine she shared. Source: Great Hymn to the Aten, tomb of Ay at Amarna (attributed to Akhenaten).

How Nefertiti talks

Formal and serene in public, devotional about the Aten; warm and playful in family scenes. Interpretation: the persona is reconstructed from art and inscriptions, not her own words.