Greek Version

It is very common for myths and legends to be adapt, borrowed and changed to fit

the different people who are telling the tale, whilst Ovid was very detailed and clear

in his account, he spoke of the goddess Minerva as the one who was angered by

Arachne.

In the Greek stories, Athena takes the staring role, but the basics of the story are the

same!

Arachne was the beautiful, talented daughter of man who made dyes of the deepest

purple and she used these in her weaving, creating beautiful scenes and outstanding

fabrics. In the Greek tale, Arachne’s origins are often different, and she is said to

have been born from a spindle belonging to her mother, a nymph named Ida, who

spun Arachne into creation from oak and plum with the blessing of the goddess

Athena.

Arachne’s birth was blessed by Athena, but her fate would also come at the hands of

the same goddess.

Arachne was a great weaver, but as is often the case with people of great skill, her

pride came before a very large fall. Her work would draw people from the villages to

admire her talent, so it is not really too surprising that she became somewhat big-

headed about her talent. Of course, it is perfectly reasonable to be proud of your

work; provoking a goddess because of your pride and vanity is not reasonable and

should be avoided!

For someone who was born with the blessing of the goddess who was known for her

weaving, Arachne was extremely reluctant to accept or admit that any of her skill

was a gift from that goddess. Every day she became prouder and would boast more

and more about how her skills could rival Athena’s. As more and more people saw

her work, praise for the skills of Arachne flowed and it was only a matter of time

before Athena could take no more!

Athena took matters into her own hands, and decided to give Arachne a chance to

acknowledge that her skills were indeed a gift from the goddess herself. She

disguised herself as an old woman before going over the Arachne and telling her it

would be unwise to be so proud without giving thanks to the gods for her skills.

Arachne was too full of pride, and she told the old woman that no goddess would

rival her skills. By now, Athena was beyond mad with the arrogant girl, and she shed

her disguise and revealed her true self. She challenged Arachne to a dual, to prove

that her skills were no match for a goddess. Arachne accepted her challenge as she

was convinced her skill would beat Athena.

Athena used her skills to create a tapestry showing the power of the gods. She used

the natural world around her to create her work. She drew strands of green from the

grass around her, white from the clouds, and colours from all the flowers around her.

She wove pictures showing Zeus firing his thunderbolts, Poseidon riding over the

waves of the sea, Apollo was seen souring across the sky and all around was the

power and majesty of the gods. Athena was showing the ungrateful Arachne that the

gods should not be trifled with.

You would think, this would act as a warning to the arrogant Arachne, but her

superiority complex knew no bounds and instead, she decided to further provoke not

only Minerva, but all the other Gods. This girl really did not have her own bests

interests at heart!

Arachne decided to weave tales which told how the male gods liked to trick and

deceive women by hiding their true identity. On her tapestry she showed the multiple

times that Zeus had transformed to trick women, including

 A bull for Europa

 An eagle for Asteria

 A swan for Lega

 A satyr for Antiope

 Amphitryon for Alcmene

 A golden shower for Danae

 Flame for Aegina

 A shepherd for Mnemosyne

 A snake for Persephone

The she wove the transformations of Poseidon

 A bull for Canace

 Enipeus for Iphimedeia

 A ram for Theophane

 A horse for Demeter

 A bird Medusa

 A dolphin for Melantho

She then moved on to Apollo, who transformed into

 Shepherd for Issa

The she wove the god Dionysus in the form of ‘delusive grapes’ for Erigone and

then, finally, she showed Cronus as a horse for Philyra.

It could be argued that Arachne’s skill was actually superior to Athena’s, and there

are differing accounts of what happened to cause Arachne’s downfall.

Some tales say that Athena was so angry that her skills were seen as lacking when

compared to Arachne’s and so she decided to punish Arachne. In other stories,

Athena was the winner, and the competition was judged by Zeus or the Nymphs

(which could be argued stacked the odds in Athena’s favour) but whichever version

of the ending you hear, Arachne’s fate was sealed!

Athena was, in some ways, merciful towards Arachne; well at least in relation to how

the other gods often dealt with mortals who offended them! She did not kill the girl for

insulting a goddess, instead she changed her into a creature who would still be able

to use her skills as a weaver. Arachne may have felt that she was let off lightly, but

before she could rejoice in her luck she began to transform.

Arachne felt her body changing and contorting and there was nothing she could do

to prevent the changes that were happening. As people watched, terrified and in awe

of the power of Athena, multiple eyes began to appear on Arachne’s face and legs

began to sprout from her body which was now covered in spikey black hair. Her

lower body became bulbous and the resemblance to a giant spider could not be

mistaken.

As a final touch, to make sure that Arachne never forgot why she had been

punished, Athena added a spool of thread to Arachne’s back which would be a

permanent reminder of her skill as a human and the pride that had resulted in her

fall.

It was the fate of Arachne and her future generations to weave webs from the

threads that came from their bodies. In some ways, it could be argued that Athena

actually gave Arachne and her children a way to continue to taunt the gods as the

webs spung by spiders are complex and beautiful. Arachne may have lost her

beauty and her human form, but she did not lose her skill and for generations she

could continue to weave and show her skill to the mortal world.

Added extra!!

There are many different stories which can be seen around the tale of Arachne; however,

these are less well known. The following are lesser-known tales, but anyone interested in

further reading could find more about these. Maybe, these will be added to her story in more

detail in time by this author!

There is a rare version of the story, which tells that Arachne was born in Attica and Athena

herself physically taught her how to weave. Arachne had a brother in this version of the tale

named Phalanx, who Athena also taught but he was not taught weaving as that was not

considered a manly skill. Instead, he was taught to skill of martial arts as Athena was skilled

in war as well as creation. As with many tales from myth, this story took a turn that was, for

the lack of a better word, yucky. Arachne and Phalanx began an incestuous relationship

which horrified and disgusted Athena. To punish the incestuous siblings, Athena turned them

both into spiders who would be doomed to be eaten by their own offspring.

The tales of Arachne can be found in some of the great works of literature from across the

centuries. You can find her stories included in:

1. The Gout by Lucian in the 2 nd Century AD.

2. The Spinners, or, The Fable of Arachne by Velazquez who was prominent between

1644 – 1648. His work inspired the painting Las Hilanderas which shows the two

most important parts of Arachne’s story. As a writer, I have no skill in art history so I

will not try and interpret this work, as I do not wish to insult the artist!!

3. Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

4. In Dante’s Inferno, Arachne appears in Canto XVII which is the first part of The

Devine Comedy. Dante references Arachne when he is describing the monster

Geryon in his quote “The Turks and Tartars never made a fabric with richer colours

intricately woven, nor were such complex webs spun by Arachne.”

5. The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf written in the 19 th Century was highly

influences by Ovid’s Metamorphoses (who isn’t! You can’t investigate the myths of

the world without knowing Ovid!) In this book, a woman is punished and turned into a

spider because she backed out of her deal with the devil himself!