Eduard Zeller studied in he University of Tübingen, in which he became a Privatdozent of Theology in 1840. He was elected Professor of Theology in Berne in 1847, in Marburg in 1849, in Heidelberg in 1862 and finally in Berlin in 1872, from which he retired in 1895. Apart from Theology, his most famous work concerns the History of Philosophy and especially the development of ancient Greek philosophy.