Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi


Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi, born Joseph Anthelme Sève, was a French-born Egyptian commander.

Biography

Joseph Anthelme Sève was born in Lyon. He became a sailor. Later he joined the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. He fought at the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. 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, Maria Myriam Hanem, with whom he had three children, Nazli, Aasma and Mahdi. Nazli's granddaughter was Queen Nazli, wife of King Fuad, and mother of King Farouk. Suleiman Pasha died in Cairo.
He still has many descendants living in Egypt.

Death

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

Legacy

There is a statue of him in the Egyptian National Military Museum inside the Cairo Citadel and a bust at the , France.
Seve's most famous quote was “I loved three men in my whole life, my father, Napoleon and Muhammad Ali”