Supernatural Creatures and Haunted Places: True Spine chilling stories.

Meet Arachne, the Spider Woman of Greece!

Arachne was a beautiful woman with a tremendous skill for weaving. Her name meant spider in Greek. Everyone admired her art, and Arachne boasted one day that she was more talented than the goddess Athena herself. This was a grave and even fatal sin for the ancient Greeks, as it was an offence against the gods. That's why goddess Athena turned her into a spider and had her wave for the rest of her life.

In Greek mythology, Arachne was a Lydian lady who was skilled in weaving and was assumed to be a princess by some. Arachne was no ordinary weaver, and the act of her weaving was pure enchantment and a wonder to behold. She was born to Idmon, a prominent dyer in Lydia.

News of Arachne's weaving travelled quickly, and it is told that forest nymphs abandoned their frolicking to gather around her to watch her weave. They were so captivated by her abilities that they speculated that she must have been trained by Goddess Athena, the goddess of weaving.

All of the adoration was too much for Arachne to handle, and as a common mortal susceptible to human flaws, she became conceited about her superior abilities. She became irritated at being considered as Athena's pupil and began boasting about her abilities, believing herself far superior to even Athena.

The goddess of weaving was upset when she learned of Arachne's brazen boasts, but she decided to offer the young woman an opportunity to repent. Athena, disguised as an elderly woman, appeared before Arachne and warned her of the dangers of inciting the gods' wrath, but Arachne was unconcerned and challenged Athena to a duel, vowing that if she lost, she would accept whatever punishment Athena imposed.

Athena took on her full form and accepted the challenge at that time. The stage was prepared for a duel between a god and a mortal, with the goal of determining who was the superior artist. The nymphs who had come to watch Arachne weave recoiled in horror at her daring, but Arachne was unflappable and stayed firm. And so the competition started, with Athena at her loom and Arachne at hers, each using gold threads and a rainbow of hues to see who could outdo the other in this final test.

What happened next was a visual feast. Athena produced a tapestry depicting scenes from the gods' past. She depicted Zeus as the central figure in the Olympic pantheon, as well as her own battle with Poseidon and victory, which led to the city of Athens being named after her. She depicted those who had dared to defy the gods and who had been punished without compassion in the corner of her tapestry.

Arachne, on the other hand, purposefully chose scenes depicting the gods' infidelities and amours. Zeus and his string of misdeeds were vividly depicted by her. She demonstrated how Zeus had transformed into a swan to rape Leda, a bull to beguile Europa, an eagle to kidnap Aegina, a shower of riches to attract Danae, and a satyr to seduce Antiope. According to the Latin account, Arachne's work had twenty-one episodes depicting the different misdeeds of the gods, including Poseidon, Apollo, Dionysus, and others.

Even Athena had to concede that Arachne's art was amazing and flawless, despite her lack of regard for the gods by picking a theme that mocked the Olympus' supreme goddesses. That, however, was insufficient to placate Athena, who was enraged at Arachne's demeaning depiction of the gods. Athena finally destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom in a fit of rage.

Arachne had dared to question the gods' supremacy, as had countless other misguided mortals. She had been ignorant to the dangers of defying the gods in her vanity over her art. Still enraged, Athens turned Arachne into a spider ("arachni" in Greek), declaring that Arachne and all her children would be skilled weavers and hang eternally on threads.

The craft of weaving is claimed to have begun in Anatolia, which is now part of contemporary Turkey, and spiders have been a constant source of inspiration for man to enhance his weaving talent. Science has honored Arachne's narrative from Greek mythology, and the taxonomic class name for spiders is Arachnida.