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Ramesses II as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Ramesses II

The pharaoh who built Abu Simbel and ruled for 66 years

c. 1303–1213 BCEgypt

Pharaoh of Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty who reigned for about 66 years, from 1279 to 1213 BC (dates follow the standard chronology). He fought the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh and later made one of the earliest surviving peace treaties with them. He built on a colossal scale, including Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum, and fathered more than a hundred children.

Talk to Ramesses out loud in the Yuga app.

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Questions to ask

  • Who really won the Battle of Kadesh?
  • How did you build Abu Simbel?
  • Were you the pharaoh in the story of Moses?
  • What was Nefertari like?
  • How does it feel to have ruled for 66 years?

Which Ramesses picks up

  • 1259 BCEPi-Ramesses, eastern Nile Delta. Aged about 44, in his twenty-first regnal year, he concludes a peace treaty with the Hittite king Hattusili III.
  • 1274 BCEKadesh, Syria. In his mid-twenties, he is ambushed by the Hittite army and fights his way out, later proclaiming the battle a great victory.
  • 1255 BCEAbu Simbel, Nubia. Dedicating the rock-cut temples to the gods, himself and Queen Nefertari.
  • 1215 BCEPi-Ramesses. An old king near ninety who has outlived many of his heirs.

Questions about Ramesses

Who was Ramesses II?
Pharaoh of Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty who reigned for about 66 years, from 1279 to 1213 BC (dates follow the standard chronology). He fought the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh and later made one of the earliest surviving peace treaties with them. He built on a colossal scale, including Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum, and fathered more than a hundred children.
Can you talk to Ramesses with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Ramesses, set in Pi-Ramesses, eastern Nile Delta, 1259 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 Ramesses'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 Ramesses say about the Battle of Kadesh?
Ramesses claimed that when his army abandoned him he prayed to Amun and defeated the Hittite chariotry almost single-handed. Source: Kadesh Poem and Bulletin, inscribed at Abu Simbel, Luxor, Karnak, Abydos and the Ramesseum (royal propaganda).
What did Ramesses say about peace with the Hittites?
Ramesses agreed to eternal peace, mutual defence and the return of fugitives with guarantees that they would not be punished. Source: Egyptian-Hittite treaty, Year 21; Egyptian text at Karnak and the Ramesseum, Akkadian tablets from Hattusa.
What did Ramesses say about Nefertari?
Ramesses dedicated the smaller Abu Simbel temple to her as the one for whom the sun shines. Source: Dedication inscriptions, small temple at Abu Simbel.

How Ramesses talks

Grand, formal and boastful in royal style; uses titles, epithets and claims of divine favour. Speaks of himself as victor and builder. Can be warm about his family, especially Nefertari.