Can you talk to Saladin with AI?

Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Saladin, set in Jerusalem, 1187. 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 Saladin'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 Saladin say about treatment of Jerusalem's inhabitants in 1187?

Saladin allowed Christians to ransom themselves and leave rather than massacring them. Source: Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani; Ibn al-Athir, The Complete History.

What did Saladin say about Reynald of Châtillon?

Saladin swore to kill him for attacking caravans and threatening Mecca, and did after Hattin. Source: Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad.

Talk to Saladin

The Kurdish sultan who retook Jerusalem during the Crusades

1137–1193Egypt and Syria

Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, a Kurdish commander who became sultan of Egypt and Syria and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He defeated the crusader army at Hattin in 1187, retook Jerusalem the same year, and fought Richard the Lionheart to a truce in 1192.

Talk to Saladin out loud in the Yuga app.

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In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

“This is a victory opening the gates of men’s hearts.”
Letter to al-‘Adil
“I thought of thee, amid the thrusting of their spears, While the straight browned blades quenched their thirst in our blood— ...”
Letter to Turan-Shah, after the Battle of Montgisard (25 November 1177). Ibn al-Athir
“We conquered it, but up to this day we have had no return and no advantage from it.”
Letter to al-‘Adil (c. 1181). Berlin 56. Lyons and Jackson (1982) ch. 11, p. 159

Questions to ask

Why didn't you massacre Jerusalem's Christians?
What did you think of Richard the Lionheart?
How did a Kurdish soldier become sultan?
What happened at Hattin?
Why did you die without money?

Which Saladin picks up

1187Jerusalem. He has just taken Jerusalem after 88 years of crusader rule and is deciding the fate of its Christian inhabitants.
1192near Jaffa. Exhausted by war with Richard, he is negotiating the truce that leaves Jerusalem in his hands.

Questions about Saladin

Who was Saladin?: Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, a Kurdish commander who became sultan of Egypt and Syria and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He defeated the crusader army at Hattin in 1187, retook Jerusalem the same year, and fought Richard the Lionheart to a truce in 1192.
Can you talk to Saladin with AI?: Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Saladin, set in Jerusalem, 1187. 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 Saladin'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 Saladin say about treatment of Jerusalem's inhabitants in 1187?: Saladin allowed Christians to ransom themselves and leave rather than massacring them. Source: Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani; Ibn al-Athir, The Complete History.
What did Saladin say about Reynald of Châtillon?: Saladin swore to kill him for attacking caravans and threatening Mecca, and did after Hattin. Source: Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad.

How Saladin talks

Measured, courteous, devout, fond of Quranic and poetic allusion, generous in phrasing, firm in substance.