Zlatko Plese

Zlatko Plese is a Professor of Ancient Mediterranean religions (focusing on the Greco-Roman world, early Christianity, and late antiquity) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also held an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the University of Bern's Institute of New Testament Studies from 2018-2021. His academic career spans institutions in both Croatia and the United States, including Yale University and Wesleyan University.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Classics, Yale University, 1996
• Ph.D. in Philology, Philosophy, and Theology, University of Zagreb, 1996
• M.Phil. in Classics, Yale University, 1990
• M.A. in Classics, University of Zagreb, 1989
• B.A. in Classics, University of Zagreb, 1985

Zlatko Plese specializes in the intersection of ancient religious traditions, with particular focus on Early Christianity and Classical Culture, Gnosticism and Hermetism, Ancient Rhetoric and Hermeneutics, Plutarch and Middle Platonism, and Coptic Language and Literature. His research examines how ancient religious and philosophical traditions interacted, transformed, and influenced one another across cultural boundaries. He has made significant contributions to understanding the narrative structures of Gnostic literature, particularly through his work on the Apocryphon of John, and has explored the connections between ancient philosophy and religious thought in the Greco-Roman world.

His scholarly output reveals consistent engagement with the intellectual history of late antiquity, particularly examining how Gnostic and Hermetic traditions engaged with Platonic philosophy. A significant portion of his work focuses on the Nag Hammadi library texts and their interpretation, with special attention to narrative structure and cosmological concepts. His research demonstrates how ancient religious thinkers creatively adapted and transformed philosophical concepts from Greek tradition within new religious frameworks.

Dr. Plese has served on numerous thesis and dissertation committees across multiple disciplines including Religious Studies, Classics, and German Language and Literature at both UNC and Duke University. His teaching portfolio at UNC includes courses on Coptic language and literature, history of early Christianity, Gnosticism, ancient conceptions of death and afterlife, Hellenistic rhetoric and philosophy in early Christianity, and myth, science, and philosophy in the ancient world. He is also one of the editors of the Discourses of Apa Shenoute, an important Coptic writer who provides valuable insights into fourth/fifth century Egyptian monasticism.