ABSTRACT
Alexander the Great and Hellenism have long been and still are among the most attractive topics for those interested in the ancient world. Linked to the very notion of Europeanness, the figure of Alexander also played an important role in the construction of the national identity of the Russian Empire, then – to a lesser extent – in the Soviet Union, and surprisingly in the countries of independent Central Asia, particularly in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The purpose of this chapter is to reconstruct the very different, if not contrasting, Russian, Soviet and independent Central Asian approaches in relation to this emblematic figure and his presence in the region, as well as the instrumentalisation of Alexander’s name. While nineteenth century historical approaches were nuanced by the colonial situation, and Soviet period researchers preferred to write about Hellenism rather than Alexander, the independence era is giving rise to new interpretations of these subjects and a new subversion of old ideologized schemas.
