The fable of Arachne (also Arachné) is a late addition to Greek mythology, recorded in Ovid's Metamorphoses ( (vi.5-54 and 129-145) and mentioned in Virgil's Georgics, iv, 246. The anecdote does not appear in the myth repertory of the Attic vase-painters. Arachne's name simply means "spider" (αράχνη). Arachne was the daughter of Idmon of Colophon, who was a famous dyer in Tyrian purple. She was a fine weaver in Hypaipa of Lydia who became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena, the goddess of weaving. Arachne is a figure in Greek mythology. ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid who wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... // Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms according to Greek and Roman points of view. ... For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... Georgics Book III, Shepherd with Flocks, Vatican The Georgics, published in 29 BC, is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil. ... Colophon (Greek Κολοφών; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was a titular see of Asia Minor. ... Murex brandaris, also known as the Spiny dye-murex The chemical structure of 6,6′-dibromoindigo, the main component of Tyrian Purple A space-filling model of 6,6′-dibromoindigo Tyrian purple (Greek: , porphura), also known as royal purple or imperial purple, is a purple-red dye made by the... Lydia (Greek ) is a historic region of western Anatolia, congruent with Turkeys modern provinces of Ä°zmir and Manisa. ... For other uses, see Athena (disambiguation). ...

Athena was angered, but gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself. Assuming the form of an old woman, she warned Arachne not to offend the gods. Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill. Athena dropped her disguise and the contest began.

Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that had inspired the people of Athens to name their city for her. According to the Latin narrative, Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the infidelity of the gods: Zeus being unfaithful with Leda, with Europa, with Danae. Neptune reigns in the city of Bristol. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... Leda and the Swan, 16th-century copy after the lost painting by Michelangelo Leda with the Swan, by Correggio In Greek mythology, Leda (Λήδα) was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of the king Tyndareus, of Sparta. ... This article is not about the daughter of Tityus and mother of Euphemus (by Poseidon), who was also named Europa. ... Danae by Gustav Klimt, 1907. ...

Even Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's disrespectful choice of subjects that displayed the failings and transgressions of the gods.^[1] Finally losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle, and struck Arachne on the head as well. Arachne realized her folly and was crushed with shame. She ran off and hanged herself.

In Ovid's telling, Athena took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena loosened the rope, which became a spider web, while Arachne herself was changed into a spider. The story suggests that the origin of weaving lay in imitation of spiders and that it was considered to have been perfected first in Asia Minor. Species See below Aconitum (known as aconite, monkshood, or wolfsbane) is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). ... Anatolia and Europe Anatolia (Turkish: from Greek: Ανατολία - Anatolia) is a peninsula of Western Asia which forms the greater part of the Asian portion of Turkey, as opposed to the European portion (Thrace, or traditionally Rumelia). ...

Afterwords

Velazquez`s "The Spinners, or The fable of Arachne"

From arachne are derived the taxonomical class name Arachnida, and the name for spiders in many romance languages. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 794 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (3176 × 2397 pixel, file size: 642 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Arachne Spinning wheel... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 794 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (3176 × 2397 pixel, file size: 642 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Arachne Spinning wheel... Linnaean taxonomy is a method of classifying living things originally devised by, and named for, Carl Linnaeus although it has changed considerably since his time. ... Orders Acarina Amblypygi Araneae Opiliones Palpigradi Pseudoscorpionida Ricinulei Schizomida Scorpiones Solifugae Uropygi The arachnids, Arachnida, are a class of invertebrate animals in the subphylum Chelicerata. ... The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, comprising all the languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...

The metamorphosis of Arachne in Ovid's telling furnished material for an episode in Edmund Spenser's mock-heroic Muiopotmos, 257-352.^[2] Spenser's adaptation, which "rereads an Ovidian story in terms of the Elizabethan world"^[3] is designed to provide a rationale for the hatred of Arachne's descendent Aragnoll for the butterfly-hero Clarion. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The tale of Arachne inspired one of Velázquez' most interesting paintings: Las Hilanderas ("The Spinners, or The fable of Arachne", in the Prado), in which the painter represents the two important moments of the myth. In the front, the contest of Arachne and the goddess (the young and the old weaver), in the back, an Abduction of Europa that is a copy of Titian's version (or maybe of Rubens' copy of Titian). In front of it appears Athena in the moment she is punishing Arachne. It transforms the myth into a reflection about creation and imitation, god and man, master and pupil (and therefore about the nature of art). For others named Velázquez, see Velazquez (disambiguation). ... Las Hilanderas is a late masterpiece by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, painted for Pedro de Arce. ... Prado may refer to: Land Cruiser Prado, a 4WD vehicle from Toyota Museo del Prado, an art gallery in Madrid Prado, Spain, a village in Castile-Leon the prado dam Prado River Miguelanxo Prado, a spanish comic book artist Ed Prado, a U.S. appeals court judge PRADO, a PHP... Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. ... Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish and European painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. ...

Popular television

• In Clash of the Titans, Arachne had been transformed into a spider by Athena before death, and actually didn't even die. She made a deal with the show's villain, Cronus: if she captured the only people who stood in his way of world domination, (7 teenagers) he would turn her back into a human. She hypnotised one (Atlanta) into capturing the others, but another (Archie) managed to break the spell. The two pretended that Atlanta was still in Arachne's control, and helped her convince Cronus to honor his end of the bargain before the heroes were destroyed. Then they took action and freed the others. Unfortunately, Cronus escaped, transforming Arachne into a normal-sized spider. In the end, Atlanta convinced Athena to give Arachne her original form.

• In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, she is pictured to be a grotesque, half-woman, half-spider monster who nested on people to produce killer spiders.

• In American Dragon Jake Long there is a merchant half woman half spider known as Veronica.

• In an episode of the animated series, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? called "The Tigress", the Chief summaries the event of the story while Zack and Ivy are work one of Carmen's clue in that caper with a tag bottle with a spider it.

• In Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Hellboy was attacked by spiders and their mother, a Japanese demoness who was half-woman, half-spider and breathed green flames.

• Gustave Doré's rendition of Arachne is one of the many recurring images used by the progressive rock band, The Mars Volta.

• An episode of Farscape, Twice Shy, features a character who can transform from a beautiful woman into a giant spider, at will.

• One of the villains in Digimon Adventure 02 was Arukenimon, a Digimon who had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a spider and could transform into a beautiful woman at will.

Clash of the Titans is a 1981 fantasy movie based on the myth of the Perseus. ... American Dragon: Jake Long is a Disney Channel original animated series featuring Jake Long, an ordinary thirteen-year-old Chinese-American boy living in New York City, but Jake also has a secret. ... Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? was a Saturday morning cartoon show based on the Carmen Sandiego series of edutainment computer games. ... Doré photographed by Felix Nadar. ... The Mars Volta is an American progressive rock group founded by Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Isaiah Ikey Owens and Jeremy Michael Ward. ... Farscape (1999–2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... This article is about an episode of the science fiction television series Farscape. ... Original run April 2, 2000 – March 25, 2001 No. ...

Notes

Title page of original printed edition The Fairy-Queen (Z.629) is a masque or semi-opera by Henry Purcell. ... ELH is an academic journal founded in 1934 and devoted to the study of major works in the English language, particularly American literature. ...

References

• Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Arachne". Former versions of the present article were based on EB 1911.
• Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) (13.23)
• The spinners at Olga's Gallery