Divine horns: religious views of Alexander

In the framework of the catalogue of the first major exhibition completely dedicated to the universal myth of Alexander from Antiquity to the contemporary age – held at the British Library in London between October 2022 and February 2023 –, this article provides the first coherent survey of the interpretations of Alexander’s figure across the great religions of the ancient and medieval world. The iconography of the horns on his head, the result of Alexander’s own self-divinisation during his conquest of Egypt, accompanies the literary and figurative representations of the Macedonian ruler in the Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions – always poised between praise and blame.