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.

For other people with the same name, see Suleiman Pasha.
Joseph Anthelme Sève, alias Suleiman Pasha, in later life.

Biography

Joseph Anthelme Sève was born in Lyon. He became 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.

At this time, Muhammad Ali Pasha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt, was recruiting European officers to train his newly formed military on modern warfare and soldierly discipline. Sève travelled to Egypt, changed his name and converted to Islam. He was placed in charge of the new soldiers' school at Aswan, now the Egyptian Military Academy. His task was to train a new model army of Sudanese slaves. When this did not work to plan, Muhammed Ali sent him other ethnicities to train as officers: Egypt-born Circassians, Albanians and Greeks.

Marriage and children

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 Egyptian National Military Museum inside the Cairo Citadel and a bust at the Préfecture in Lyon, France.

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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