Hammam El Soltane Hammam El Soltane Hammam El Soltane (Arabic: حمام السلطان), literally ""Sultan's bath"", is one of the most famous Turkish baths in the medina of Sfax. Currently not functioning, it is at risk of being demolished. The hammam is in the eastern part of the medina in Sfax near Sidi Lakhmi mosque and Dar Jellouli Museum. It overlooks Driba Street. The written sources do not retain an exact date for the construction of this hammam. Nevertheless, an epigraphic inscription at the entrance of the building commemorates the restoration of the monument by the master Mohamed El Kotti in 1649 during the
Turkish Sudan of the Khedives of Egypt. The 'Turkish connection' was that the Khedives of Egypt were nominal vassals of the Ottoman Empire, so all acts were done, notionally, in the name of the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul. The Egyptian elite may be described as 'notionally' Turkish speaking because while Ismail Pasha, who conquered Egypt, spoke Turkish and could not speak Arabic, Arabic rapidly became widely used in the army and administration in the following decades, until under the Khedive Ismail Arabic was made the official language of government, with Turkish being confined only to correspondence with the Sublime Porte. The term