chapter 24 Receptions of Alexander in Johann Gustav Droysen*

Josef Wiesehöfer

It has often been said, with justice, that this (Droysen’s Alexander, j.w.) is the first book of modern historical scholarship on Alexander.1 …

Moreover, he (A. Momigliano, j.w.) remarked forcefully that i(t) would be useful to undertake research on the ‘pre-Droysenian’ Alexander. Such an exercise could serve to enlighten historians who are too often tempted to see in the Prussian historian a kind of prōtos heuretēs in the area of research on Alexander and the .2 ∵

Biographical Portrait of Johann Gustav Droysen3

Johann Gustav Droysen, born on 6 July 1808 in the small town of Treptow on the Rega, was the son of the Prussian garrison minister Johann Christoph Droysen. After attending the Marienstiftsgymnasium in Stettin, he studied in Berlin;

* I thank my dear friend Reinhold Bichler (Innsbruck) for valuable comments and hints. 1 Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon 356–323bc: A Historical Biography, rev. ed. 21974, repr. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 482. 2 Pierre Briant, “”, in The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies, ed. George Boys-Stones et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 79. 3 The most important biographical study was presented by Wilfried Nippel: Johann Gus- tav Droysen. Ein Leben zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik (München: C.H. Beck, 2008). Cf. also: Christiane Hackel, ed., Johann Gustav Droysen, 1808–1884. Philologe, Historiker, Politiker (Berlin: g+hVerlag, 2008) as well as several contributions in Stefan Rebenich and Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, ed., Johann Gustav Droysen. Philosophie und Politik—Historie und Philologie (Frank- furt: Campus, 2012).

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/9789004359932_025 receptions of alexander in johann gustav droysen 597 his main focus was on Classical Philology. He also attended philosophical lectures (among others by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel), as well as those in the fields of geography, history, law and theology. In 1831, he earned his doctorate with August Boeckh as his supervisor, and he taught from 1833 as a Privatdozent and unsalaried Extraordinary Professor of Ancient History at the University of Berlin, besides his work as a high school teacher at the famous Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster (since 1829). Droysen’s friendly relations with members of the family of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, not least the famous composer Felix, also fall into the Berlin era. During these years, Droysen published, apart from his famous book on Alexander (see below), a translation of the works of in 18324 and a paraphrase of ’ comedies (1835–1838).5 In the spring of 1840 Droysen was appointed Professor of History at the University of , where he succeeded as an academic teacher and increas- ingly turned to Contemporary History as his subject of study. At the end of March, 1848, he was sent to the German Bundestag by the Provisional Gov- ernment of Schleswig- as a member of the so-called Committee of the Seventeen; he then became a representative of the fifth Holstein elec- toral district in the National Assembly (among other things as secretary in the Constitutional Committee) where he fought for the Lesser German solu- tion under Prussian leadership. In 1850, Droysen published, together with Karl Samwer, a history of ’s dealings with the duchies of Schleswig and Hol- stein.6 In the winter term of 1851/52, Droysen followed a call to the , where he worked mainly on Prussian history and also gave a lecture on the theory of history for the first time. Called to Berlin University in 1859/60 against the will of its faculty,Droysen, who had always considered it Prussia’s mission to unify Germany, was appointed “Historiographer of the Brandenburg State” in 1877. His main works on Prussian history and historiographical methodology during his Jena and Berlin years were: “Das Leben des Feldmarschalls Grafen

4 Johann Gustav Droysen, Des Aischylos Werke. Uebersetzt von Joh. Gust. Droysen, 2 Bde. (Berlin: G. Finke, 1832). 5 Johann Gustav Droysen, Des Aristophanes Werke. Uebersetzt von Joh. Gust. Droysen, 3 Bde. (Berlin: Veit & Comp., 1835–1838). 6 Johann Gustav Droysen and Karl Samwer, Die Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein und das KönigreichDänemark.AktenmäßigeGeschichtederdänischen PolitikseitdemJahre1806 (Ham- burg: Perthes-Besser und Mauke, 1850) (English translation:ThePolicyof Denmarktowardsthe Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, from the Year 1806 to the Breaking Out of the War in March, 1848 (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850)).