Arachne
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Arachne is a character from Greek mythology.
She was the daughter of Idmon of Colohpon, in Lydia (Greece). Her father earned his living with dyeing (coloring) cloth. She learnt to be a weaver. A weaver makes cloth, or textiles, from single strings. She was good at what she did, so she once claimed that her skill was better than that of Athena. Athena is the old Greek goddess of weaving (amongst other things).
Athena was of course mad at her. So she appeared to the girl as an old woman, and warned her not to offend the gods. Arachne did not take the advice, she wanted a weaving contest to prove her skill.
Athena revealed herself, and let the contest begin. Athena wove her scene were she won over Poseidon, the god of the sea. Arachne wove scenes about Zeus being unfaithful, with different women: Leda, Europa, and Danae.
Athena also saw Arachnes work as without error, but she did not like the subject of Arachne's weaving. Athena lost her temper, and destroyed what Athena had created. She also hit Arachne on the head. Arachne then realized what she had done. She ran away and hanged herself. Athena however had pity with Arachne, so before Arachne had died, she changed the rope into a cobweb, and Arachne into a spider.
Ovid tells the story in Metamorphoses. Book 6, 5-54, 129-145. The story probably indicates the superiority of Asia over Greece in the textile arts.
The Greek word for spider is arachne (αραχνη), from which derive the mythological woman's name, the class name Arachnida in biology, and the name for fear of spiders, arachnophobia.