Elias Petropoulos

Who was Elias Petropoulos?

Elias Petropoulos, who was born in Greece but spent much of his life in France, holds a unique place in the intellectual life of Europe. A self-described "urban anthropologist," he wrote widely and seriously on aspects of Greek life which were rarely considered objects of serious study: the design of the ubiquitous balconies, courtyards, ironwork, and windows of Greek buildings, the methods and vocabulary of preparing coffee and the art of telling fortunes from coffee-grounds, the traditional layout and functioning of brothels, the role of bean soup as an unheralded Greek national dish, the specialized slang of the Greek homosexual scene — it is claimed that his book Kaliarda was the first dictionary of gay slang in any language — the Greek drug users' underworld, and above all, the Greek musical form rebetiko, of which he was certainly the major historian. His major work, Rebetika Traghoudhia, extensively documents the lyrics and instrumentation of this music, as well as the lifestyle associated with it. The publication of the first edition of this book in Greece in 1968 so scandalized the ruling dictatorship that he was jailed for five months. Subsequent controversial books he authored resulted in several more jail sentences and fines, resulting ultimately in his decision to leave Greece to live permanently in France. He also published poetry, both original and in translation.