Promachos

In ancient Greece and during the Byzantine era, the Promachoi (singular: Promachos; Greek: πρόμαχος) were the men fighting in the first rank of the phalanx.^[1][2] The word can also be used as an adjective as in "promachos line"^[3] referring to the first line of battle.

Promachos in a Greek phalanx

The first use of the word is recorded in Homer's Iliad.^[4][5] An obsolete English literal translation of promachos is forefighter, in Dutch voorvechter.

Name

• Promachos (Πρόμαχος), a young man from Knossos.^[6]

Sanctuaries - Statues

• Athena Promachos, the famous bronze statue by Phidias that towered over the Parthenon.
• Hermes Promachos, a sanctuary at Tanagra was dedicated to him.^[7][8]
• Heracles Promachos, a white marble statue of Heracles in the Heracles Sanctuary at Thebes. The Thebans Xenocrites (Ξενοκρίτης) and Eubius (Εὔβιος) created the statue.^[9]