Vassilis Rotas

Vassilis Rotas (5 May 1889 – 30 May 1977) was a Greek author, politician, and translator of Shakespeare's dramas from English to Greek.

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. Following this, he established the Popular Theatre of Athens in 1932 and translated some theater plays of William Shakespeare into Greek during the 1930s.

After Nazi Germany occupied Greece in World War II, he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM) Following this, he toured the country with theater plays He was the author of the hymn of the EAM to a melody of the Russian Katyusha. He died in 1977.

Legacy Rotas was an important figure in the development of the Greek language, preferring the Demotic over the Katharevousa. Demotic became the official Greek language in 1976. He is also the translator of the complete works of Shakespeare from English to Greek, often using words and terms seldom used in casual Greek, both the Kathaverousa and Demotic languages. Later, Vassilis was the partner of Velou Damianakou, who also was a member of the Greek resistance against Nazi Germany. Damianakou assisted him in several of the Shakespeare translations.