The
Athena Promachos (Ἀθηνᾶ Πρόμαχος "Athena who fights in the front line") was a colossal bronze statue of
Athena sculpted by
Pheidias, which stood between the
Propylaea and the
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warriors and the protectress of Athens. Pheidias also sculpted two other figures of Athena on the Acropolis, the huge gold and ivory ("
chryselephantine")
cult image of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon and the
Lemnian Athena. The designation
Athena Promachos is not attested before a dedicatory inscription of the early fourth century CE:
Pausanias (1.28.2), for one, referred to it as "the great bronze Athena" on the Acropolis.