Vassilis Rotas (5 May 1889 – 30 May 1977) was a Greek author, politician, and translator of Shakespeare's dramas from English into Greek.[1]
Biography
He was born in Chiliomodi on the Peloponnese in 1889 and studied literature at the University of Athens and drama at the Athens Conservatoire.[2] Following this, he established the Popular Theatre of Athens in 1932 and during the 1930s, he translated some theater plays of William Shakespeare into Greek.[3]
After Nazi Germany occupied Greece in World War II, he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM)[2] and established the Theater of the Mountains.[4] Following this, he toured the country with theater plays[2] together with members of the United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON), the youth wing of the EAM.[5] He was the author of the hymn of the EAM to a melody of the Russian Katyusha.[2] He was the Director of Culture in the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), the political resistance movement against Nazi Germany.[2] Following the end of World War II, he was again involved in the translations of the works of Shakespeare.[3] Rotas and Voula Damianakou published the magazine Laikos Logos between 1966 and 1967.[6] He died in 1977.[7]
Legacy
He was an important figure in the development of the Greek language, preferring the Demotic over the Katharevousa.[8] Demotic became the official Greek language in 1976.[9] He is also the translator of the complete works of Shakespeare from English into Greek, often using words and terms seldom used in casual Greek, both the Kathaverousa and Demotic language.[8]
Personal life
He married his childhood friend Katerina Giannakopoulou and had three children, one of them the prominent Greek composer and theatrical contributor Nikiforos Rotas.[10][11] Later Vassilis was the partner of Velou Damianakou, who also was a member of the Greek resistance against Nazi Germany.[12] Damianakou assisted him in several of the Shakespeare translations.[3]