After the rediscovery of the historical Alexander at the beginning of the early modern period debate on the great conqueror has been determined both by the respective circumstances of the time and the world view of the discussants. In Germany, for a long time, the same – opposing, moralising and character-related – views of Alexander were repeatedly essayed: Alexander, the bringer of civilisation, adventurer and world opener on one hand, Alexander, the destroyer and mass murderer on the other. Johann Gustav Droysen’s book of 1833, which ascribed to the Macedonian king the (world-historical) mission to prepare the way for the Christian Gospel (and for Islam) through the fusion of Orient and Occident (under Greek aegis), took a prominent position. Despite the general recognition of Alexander’s military exploits, it was his alleged unifying and cosmopolitan measures and the abandonment of the so-called völkisches Prinzip which met with opposition, not least during the National Socialist era. Modern preference for stricter source criticism and detailed research still do not prevent sketches of (constructed) images of Alexander’s personality, ambivalences in the evaluation of the king and his instrumentalisation as a projection figure.