Ioannis (John) Petropoulos was educated at the University of Athens Law School, Harvard University (AB, Classics, summa cum laude), and the University of Oxford (DPhil., Litterae Humaniores, Lincoln College). He taught ancient Greek literature at Oxford for several years before settling in Greece in 1990. Since then, he has taught at the University of Crete, the Democritus University of Thrace, the Hellenic Open University, the programme for advanced theology in the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi (Mt Athos), and was the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Visiting Professor in the Humanities at the University of Lisbon, Dept of Classics, during the academic year 2024-25.

He has also lectured and taught at universities in Brazil, China, the EU, UK, Russia, and the US. In August 2023, he retired as Professor of Ancient Greek Literature in the Department of Greek Philology, Democritus University of Thrace. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Ancient Greek Literature, St Photius Orthodox Theological Seminary in Etna, CA, and Director Emeritus of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece (CHS-GR).

I. Petropoulos has supervised a number of doctoral and post-doctoral theses affiliated with Greek, Brazilian, Chinese, and French universities. His numerous publications include articles in his field and books such as Kleos in a minor key: The Homeric education of a Little Prince, published in 2011 by the Center for Hellenic Studies and Harvard University Press. He is now working on a book, The Gospel and the Greeks: a commentary on St Basil the Great, Address to the young on the value of pagan poetry.