Arachne: The Greek mythical mortal who metamorphosed into a spider
If you are a keen student of biology, you would know about arachnids. Yes, they refer to eight-legged creatures, such as the spiders, mites, ticks and the scorpions. Now, did you know that the word “arachnid” is derived out of the Old Greek word “Arachne?” Maybe not. What is even surprising is that, Arachne is actually the name of a mortal from Greek mythology. Okay, but how on earth did she become associated with octopods such as the spider? Turns out, there is quite a story behind it. Let us quickly delve into it today.
The legend of Arachne
Arachne can be traced back to ancient Greek mythology, as early as Ovid’s Metamorphoses. As the legend goes, she was a maiden hailing from Lydia, a western part of Anatolia, Greece. She was the daughter of a renowned purple dyer named Idmon of Colophon and was interested in weaving from a very young age. Eventually, she became a professional weaver and turned beautiful images into cloth embroidery. She became so famous that people from all over the country would visit her and order garments for themselves. As a result, she soon started suffering from hubris and ended up boasting that her weaving skills were better than that of Athena herself, the Greek goddess of wisdom who specialised in several art forms, weaving in particular. Hearing this, Athena in disguise of an old lady approached Athena and even warned her not to compare herself to the almighty, and instead seek forgiveness.
As it turns out, rather than humbling down, Arachne prompted that she only spoke the truth and if Athena thought otherwise, she should come down on Earth and challenge her. At this moment, Athena revealed herself and the women (one mortal versus one goddess) started weaving instantly. They both weaved symbolic pictures. While Arachne’s showed the image of mortals being abused and misled by the gods and goddesses, particularly Zeus; Athena weaved a scene where mortals dared to contest against gods and got punished thereafter.
What do you think happened next? No, Athena didn’t weave better than Arachne. In fact, it was the other way round. Humiliated, Athena ripped her mortal competitor’s work apart and even struck her. Ashamed and scared of things going out of hand, Arachne hung herself. Now, this is where you think the story might have ended but didn’t. Athena felt pity for the human and blessed her to live on. But she too was afraid that Arachne might repeat her offence; so instead of turning into a person, she turned her into a spider. How? By spraying the magic juice of Hecate’s herb. Arachne became awake and started losing her hair and skin, eventually shrinking in size. Do you know why she metamorphosed into a spider? Because Athena wanted her to keep weaving. And as we all know, spider spins and weaves its web in the most brilliant way.
Arachne in pop culture
Ancient Greeks considered Arachne as the inventor of nets and linen, while her son Closter is attributed as the first to use spindle to make wool. Apart from this, Arachne’s myth also inspired a lot of works. For instance, the Renaissance painting of Spanish artist Diego de Silva y Velazquez called Las Hilanderas was subtitled, The Fable of Arachne or The Spinners in English. The painting is historical as its front side depicts the contest between Arachne and Athena (in disguise of an old woman), while the back exhibits the Abduction of Europa, another popular myth in those days. Interestingly, Athena’s Roman equivalent Minerva also appears in the work while she is punishing Arachne. Experts believe the artist wanted to demonstrate two sides to the same stories with the themes: God versus man, creation versus imitation and master versus pupil.
A 19th century Swiss novelist Jeremias Gotthelf also depicted the same myth in his novella titled The Black Spider. The only change the author made was turn the goddess into a devil where the story goes as follows: a woman is transformed into a poisonous spider after making a deal with Satan himself.
The other notable works that mention the myth are: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, where Arachne is shown as a hideous half-spider, a half-woman monster who preys on mortals and gives birth to killer spiders. Modern-day American novelist Peter S. Beagle also spun a character based on Arachne in his novel The Last Unicorn. Marvel comics’ Spider-Woman is also called Arachne (now you know why!), while urban play Arachne: Spider Girl! by Australian writer Ursula Dubosarsky aims to debunk the myth.