Roman Version

The story of Arachne is, like many stories from the Greek myths, a warning of what

can befall a person who angers the Gods.

Arachne’s story can be found in the tales of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and we will

recall the story for you here, although we do not claim to possess the story telling

skills of the great poets of Rome and Greece!

The main difference you will note is the name of the Goddess involved but the basis

of the story is the same.

We will start with Ovid’s epic!

In Ovid’s tale, Arachne was a beautiful Lydian maiden who was an expert in

weaving, as she had learnt from a child. She was known for her purple work due to

the fact her father, Idmon of Colophon was an expert in that colour.

Minerva became enraged when she heard from the Muses that Arachne considered

herself to be on an equal with her, the Goddess of weaving, amongst Minerva’s other

qualities.

Then she said to herself: ‘Is praising not enough? I also need to be praised in turn.

No mortal shall scoff at my power unpunished.’ She therefore considered how best

to dispose of a Lydian girl, called Arachne, who claimed (so she heard) to equal

herself working with wool.

Arachne had been heard to boast that she was a better weaver than Minerva, and if

we have learnt anything from the tales of mortals and gods, it is never a good idea to

provoke them! Arachne even went as far as to refuse to acknowledge that her skill

was in anyway related to Minerva.

Arachne was so skilled that the nymphs themselves would leave their homes and

come and watch her creations.

The nymphs used often to leave their haunts, Mount Tmolus’ vines or the banks of

the river Pactolus, to gaze on Arachne’s amazing artistry, equally eager to watch her

handwork in progress (her skill was so graceful) as much as look at the finished

article.

Minerva angered by the constant boasting, disguised herself in the form of an old

woman and approached Arachne to warn her that it is unwise to compare her skills

to those of a goddess and that if she had any sense, she would beg Minerva for

forgiveness.

Arachne did not take this warning seriously at all. In fact, the arrogant girl decided to

make things even worse! She refused to admit she owed any of her skill to Minerva

and decided that the best idea (it wasn’t!) was to challenge Minerva to a competition.

Arachne herself, in indignant pride, denied a debt.

‘Let’s hold a contest,’ she said. ‘If I am beaten, I will pay my forfeit.’

In her disguise, Minerva tried again to get the stubborn girl to repent, but to no avail.

Arachne just kept making things worse! She looked at the old woman and shouted at

her in anger.

‘Leave me alone, you stupid old woman! The trouble with you is you have lived too

long. You can give your advice to what daughters you have or the wives of your

sons. I’m clever enough to advise myself. Don’t think your warnings have done any

good. I’m set on my course.

Why doesn’t Minerva herself arrive in person? She’s shirking this contest!’

Now angry beyond compare, Minerva revealed herself, dropping her disguise. Whilst

the nymphs and the other woman paid homage to Minerva, Arachne refused to give

in, so caught up in her own pride! She stood firm on her decision to beat Minerva in a

competition of weaving.

[In Metamorphoses, Ovid goes into great detail about their weaving, but here I will

give you and overview and if you wish to learn more of their battle, I recommend

reading Book 6 of his epic!!!!]

The competition was underway, and Minerva used her creation as a way to show the

strength of the Gods. She created a vision of

On her loom, Minerva created the scenes showing the power of the gods, with

herself at the centre. Creating olive trees as the other gods watched on. She used

the corners of her tapestry to warn of the dangers of angering the gods. In one

corner there were two mountains, which were once mortals who tried to be Jupiter

and Juno. In the two other corners, she showed the fate of the two women who had

tried to compete with Juno and were transformed into birds in punishment.

It was clear that even in her weaving Minerva was warning the arrogant Arachne that

there was never a happy ending for anyone who angered the gods. Did Arachne pay

attention? Of course not, it would be a dull story if she had held her hands up and

said, ‘oops sorry about that, my bad!’

In fact, Arachne decided to provoke Minerva even more by creating a tapestry that

showed the male gods using and abusing women. It was never going to end well.

On her tapestry, Arachne showed the story of how Jupiter kidnapped Europa whilst

disguised as a bull. She went on to weave the stories of the other women (and there

were a lot) that Jupiter had also kidnapped and abused, whilst tricking them with his

disguises. She did not end project with Jupiter, and she also added the behaviour of

Neptune, who was known for his deceptive behaviour and numerous affairs!

Jupiter was not the only god who used his power to treat women in a way which was

unacceptable! Apollo and Bacchus were also show in Arachne’s work using their

power to disguise themselves and then abusing women. Despite the negative theme,

Arachne’s work was so skilful that no-one could deny her the win!

This understandably infuriated Minerva even further and in anger, Minerva grabbed

Arachne’s tapestry and tore it into pieces and, in Ovid’s version, hit Arachne on the

head with a shuttle used for weaving.

The fair-haired warrior goddess resented Arachne’s success and ripped up the

picture betraying the gods’ misdemeanours.

She was still holding her shuttle of hard Cytorian boxwood and used it to strike

Arachne a number of times on the forehead.

The wretched girl was too proud to endure it and fastened a halter around her neck.

She was hanging in air when the goddess took pity and lifted her up. ‘You may live,

you presumptuous creature,’ she said, “but you’ll hang suspended forever. Don’t

count on a happier future:

my sentence applies to the whole of your kind, and to all your descendants!”

And so, Arachne received her punishment for angering Minerva and as Minerva

threw poison on her body, Arachne began her transformation into a spider. Minerva

gave Arachne fingers where a spider’s legs should be and so Arachne could

continue to weave, but not she was limited to creating art in the form of the webs of a

spider.