In Greek mythology, she was a talented mortal weaver who challenged Athena, goddess of wisdom and craftsmanship, to a weaving contest; this arrogance led to her transformation into a spider. There are many versions of the weaving contest in the story, each of which says that one or the other won.
1. Biography
According to the myth recounted by Ovid, Arachne was a maiden from Lydia who was the daughter of Idmon of Colophon, a famous purple dyer. She was credited with inventing linen cloth and nets, while her son Closter introduced the use of the spindle in wool manufacturing. She was said to be a native of Hypæpæ, near Colophon in Asia Minor.
2. Mythology
The myth of Arachne is well known for being a fantastic fable involving transformations, punishment, and competition for the title of best artisan weaver.
The goddess Athena and Arachne
In this version, Arachne was the daughter of a shepherd who began weaving at an early age. She became a great weaver, boasted that her skill was greater than Athena’s, and refused to acknowledge that her skill came, at least in part, from the goddess. Athena was offended and organized a contest between them. Disguised as an old woman, she approached the boastful girl and warned her, “You can never compare yourself to any of the gods. Ask for forgiveness and Athena might spare your life.”
I speak only the truth, and if Athena thinks otherwise, let her drop it and challenge me herself, replied Arachne. Athena removed her disguise and appeared in shining glory, dressed in a bright white chiton. The two began to weave immediately. Athena’s weaving depicted four separate contests between mortals and gods in which the gods punished mortals for setting themselves up as equals to the gods.
Arachne’s weaving showed ways in which the gods had deceived and mistreated mortals, particularly Zeus, who had tricked and seduced many women. When Athena saw that Arachne had not only insulted the gods, but had done so with a work far more beautiful than her own, she was enraged. She tore Arachne’s work apart and struck her three times on the head.
Terrified and ashamed, Arachne hanged herself. Then Athena said, “And immediately at the touch of this dark poison, Arachne’s hair fell out. With it went her nose and ears, her head shrank to the smallest size, and her whole body became tiny. With her thin fingers stuck to her sides like legs, the rest is belly, from which a thread still spins and, like a spider, she weaves her old web.
And immediately upon the touch of this dark poison, Arachne’s hair fell out. With it went her nose and ears, her head shrank to the smallest size, and her whole body became tiny. With her thin fingers stuck to her sides like legs, the rest is belly, from which a thread still spins, and like a spider, she weaves her old web. This showed how the goddesses punished mortals who dared to insult them.
3. Influence
The name of the taxonomic class Arachnida and the name of spiders in many Romance languages are derived from Arachne. Arachne’s metamorphosis in Ovid’s account provided material for an episode in Edmund Spenser’s heroic simulacrum Muiopotmos, 257–352. Spenser’s adaptation, which “re-reads an Ovidian story in terms of the Elizabethan world,” is designed to provide a reason for the hatred of the Aragnoll, descendant of Arachne, for the butterfly hero Clarion.
Dante Alighieri uses Arachne in Canto XVII of Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, to describe the hideous monster Geryon. “His back and all his belly and both his sides were painted with arabesques and curlicues: the Turks and the Tartars never wove a cloth with colors more richly woven, nor wove nets as complex as those of Arachne.”
It has also been suggested that Jeremias Gotthelf’s 19th-century novel The Black Spider was heavily influenced by Ovid’s story of Arachne in Metamorphoses. In the novel, a woman is turned into a poisonous spider after reneging on a deal with the devil.
4. In popular culture
Arachne has had a considerable degree of influence on modern popularculture. She frequently appears in modern fantasy books, films, and television series in the form of a monstrous spider. In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, she is depicted as a grotesque monster, half woman, half spider, who nests in people to produce killer spiders. She is the central character in the 2011 novel The Spider Goddess by Tara Moss.
In Clash of the Titans, Arachne transforms herself into a giant spider and makes a deal with Cronus to become human again. Cronus does not keep his end of the bargain and betrays her after getting her to trap the heroes for him. After being reprimanded by Atlanta, Athena turns Arachne into a human, and she is allowed to live in Olympus High School, weaving for the gods.
In episode 13 of season 6 of Supernatural, “No Mercy,” the monster of the week is an Arachne, depicted as a humanoid monster with attributes and abilities similar to those of a spider, including the ability to weave strong webs and a poisonous bite that can spin.
Other humans in Arachnes. They can only be killed by decapitation, and before one appeared in Bristol, Rhode Island, they had not been seen in 2,000 years. Although soulless, Sam Winchester hunted one, but he did not know that it had also turned its victims into Arachnes. One of the converted victims returns for revenge, and Sam is forced to kill it.
Arachne also appears in the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympusseries. All of Athena’s children, including Annabeth Chase, are arachnophobic due to Arachne’s dispute with Athena. Arachne appears toward the end of The Mark of Athena as a giant spider while retaining her human features. She is defeated by Annabeth due to her pride, and both are ultimately sent to fall into Tartarus, where Percy Jackson kills Arachne.
In the novel The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, a plain brown spider is enchanted to believe she is Arachne until the witch who enchanted her is killed. She is mentioned as one of the creatures in Mommy Fortuna’s midnight carnival.
The book describes Arachne as: “the best weaver in the world; her fate is proof of that. She had the misfortune of defeating the goddess Athena in a weaving contest. Athena was a sore loser, and Arachne is now a Spider, creating only for Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival, by special arrangement. Weaving snow and flames, and never two alike. Arachne.”
In Marvel Comics, Arachne is the name used by the second Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter, currently the new Madame Web) to distinguish herself from Jessica Drew, the original Spider Woman. In Volume 3 of Monster Musume, an Arachne (a human female from the waist up and the body/legs of a spider) named Rachnera Arachnera is introduced; she becomes a member of the “Monster Girl” family in the volume.
She was responsible for creating the first demonic weapons, an act that Death fiercely opposed, forcing her to bide her time and remain hidden for 800 years. She returns to lead the resurrected Arachnaphobia, her personal army against Death.
Arachne’s story has also been adapted for many works. She is the inspiration for a character appearing in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Arachne: Spider Girl is a children’s game based on the myth by Ursula Dubosarsky, first published in the NSW school magazine.
Gustave Doré’s illustration of Arachne’s punishment in Dante’s Purgatorio Purgatorio has had a surprising number of appearances in pop culture. It is one of many recurring images used by the rock band The Mars Volta; it has been used on the cover of their Live EP, as a backdrop for their live shows, and as a favorite accessory for guitarist and composer Omar Rodríguez López in the form of a buckle.
Eminem’s 2013 music video for the song “Rap God” features images from Dante’s Purgatory, including the illustration of Arachne. (This is most likely a metaphor for rappers trying to compete with the self-proclaimed “Rap God.”)
In episode 245 of the comedy Bang Explosion Podcast, comedian Neil Campbell references the rivalry between Arachne and Athena during a freestyle rap battle. In the popular MOBA game Smite, Arachne appears as a playable deity in the Greek pantheon. In a short story “More Twisted Against,” John Wyndham tells how Arachne finds herself in the clutches of a spider-obsessed collector and the deal she makes with the collector’s wife, Lydia.
