Athena statue with her spear and shield standing

In the iconography of Athena Promachos — Athena "who fights in front" — the goddess stands with spear and shield as the defender of the city. The colossal bronze of this name by Pheidias once stood between the Propylaea and the Parthenon on the Acropolis, its spear-tip visible to sailors rounding Cape Sounion. The standing Athena armed reaches back to that protective image: a deity whose intelligence is bound up with her readiness, whose wisdom is also a wall.