Ilisia ( el, Ιλίσια ) is a
neighborhood of
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...
, named after the river
Ilisos. A portion of the neighborhood, Ano Ilisia (Upper Ilisia), is in
Zografou and is near the Theology, Philosophy and Scientific faculties of the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
. The lower (western) part is also known as the "Hilton" neighborhood due to the proximity of the
Hilton Athens hotel.
Ilisia is named after the
Ilisos river, which rises near
Kaisariani
Kaisariani ( el, Καισαριανή) is a suburb and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration in Greece.
Geography
Kaisariani is located about southeast of Athens city centre, and of the Acropolis of Athens. The munic ...
on the slopes of Mount
Hymettus
Hymettus (), also Hymettos (; el, Υμηττός, translit=Ymittós, pronounced ), is a mountain range in the Athens area of Attica, East Central Greece. It is also colloquially known as ''Trellós'' (crazy) or ''Trellóvouno'' (crazy mountain) ...
and which, although Athens' historic river, is barely noticeable except in heavy rain. The name originally used for the villa of
Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance (Villa Ilisia), that was built near Ilisos river in 1848. Today this building hosts the
Byzantine Museum.
Sports
The sport club of Ilisia is
Ilisiakos, founded in 1927, with football team (
Ilisiakos F.C.) and basketball team
Ilisiakos BC. Although the name ''Ilisiakos'' seems to mean "team of Ilisia", the spelling, with Greek letter ''H'' (Ηλυσιακός) instead of ''I'' (Ιλισιακός), refers to
Elysium (Ἠλύσιον πεδίον). The rationale for this is that the club aims to represent a wider area from Ilisia.
Notable people
*
Nikko Patrelakis, musician
See also
*
Byzantine & Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum ( el, Βυζαντινό και Χριστιανικό Μουσείο, links=no) is situated at Vassilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens, Greece. It was founded in 1914, and houses more than 25,000 exhibits with rar ...
References
Neighbourhoods in Athens
{{Athens-geo-stub