Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi

Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi (Süleyman Pasha the French; May or July 1788 – 12 March 1860), born Joseph Anthelme Sève, was a French-born Egyptian commander.

Joseph Anthelme Sève, alias Suleiman Pasha, in later life.

Biography

Soliman Pasha was born in Lyon. He was a sailor.[1] Later he joined the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. He fought at the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo.[1] After the war ended in 1815, he resigned from Napoleon's Army and worked as a merchant, when Muhammad Ali Pasha was recruiting European officers to train his newely formed military on modern warfare and European discpline, he travelled to Egypt and was recruited by Muhammad Ali of Egypt to help build the Egyptian army on the European model. Later he converted to Islam. He was placed in charge of a new military academy at Aswan built to train a new model army of Sudanese slaves, which didn't end up very well as the Sudanese slaves weren't doing good in trainings and were often lazy and incompetent therefore Muhammad Ali sent his non Egyptian elements of Circassians, Albanians and Greeks who were mostly born in Egypt to get trained as officers in the Aswan Academy.

He married a Greek woman,[2][3][4] Maria Myriam Hanem, with whom he had three children, Nazli, Aasma and Mahdi. Nazli's granddaughter was Queen Nazli,[3] wife of King Fuad, and mother of King Farouk.[4] Suleiman Pasha died in Cairo.

He still has many descendants living in Egypt.

Death
Tomb of Suleiman Pasha el-Faransawi, Old Cairo, Egypt

His tomb is present in Cairo's Old Cairo quarter, and the body of his wife is buried nearby.[2]

Legacy
The Statue of Suleiman Pasha

There is a statue of him in the Cairo Military Museum and a bust at the Préfecture in Lyon.

Seve's most famous quote was “I loved three men in my whole life, my father, Napoleon and Muhammad Ali”

References
  1. George Young (2002). Egypt from the Napoleonic Wars Down to Cromer and Allenby. Gorgias Press LLC. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-931956-88-8. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  2. Rodenbeck, John (1993). Cairo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. p. 143. ISBN 9780395664315. Born in Lyon in 1788 and originally known in France as Anthelme Seve, Sulayman Pasha ... In the building nearby is interred the body of Lady Maryam, Sulayman Pasha's wife, a beautiful Greek whom the young and dashing colonel had rescued...
  3. Mostyn, Trevor (2006). Egypt's Belle Epoque: Cairo and the Age of the Hedonists. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9781845112400. Sulaiman Pasha made an eccentric figure ... Born in Lyon in 1788, he lived to the age of seventy-two with his favourite Greek mistress, dying in Cairo on 12 March 1860. His daughter, Nazli Hanem, married Muhammad Sherif Pasha, who was to become an important prime minister under Ismail. Their granddaughter, the beautiful, domineering Nazli Sabri, was to marry King Fouad and give birth to the last of the dynasty, King Farouk.
  4. "Weekend Nostalgia". The Middle East Journal. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.


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