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{{Short description|Mythological weaver who was transformed into a spider}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Arachne
| image = René-Antoine Houasse - Minerve et Arachne (Versailles).jpg
| caption = ''Minerva and Arachne'', by [[René-Antoine Houasse]], 1706.
| father = [[Idmon]]
| children = Closter
| abode = [[Lydia]] or [[Attica]]
| siblings = [[Phalanx (mythology)|Phalanx]] (brother)
}}

'''Arachne''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|r|æ|k|n|iː|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Arachne.wav}}; from {{Langx|grc|Ἀράχνη|Arákhnē|spider}}, cognate with [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|araneus}})<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 124.</ref> is the protagonist of a tale in [[classical mythology]] known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] (43&nbsp; BCE–17&nbsp; CE). In Book Six of his epic poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Ovid recounts how the talented mortal Arachne challenged the goddess [[Minerva]] to a weaving contest. When Minerva could find no flaws in the tapestry Arachne had woven for the contest, the goddess became enraged and beat the girl with her [[Shuttle (weaving)|shuttle]]. After Arachne hanged herself out of shame, she was transformed into a [[spider]]. The myth both provided an [[Origin myth|etiology]] of spiders' web-spinning abilities and was a [[cautionary tale]] about [[hubris]].

== Biography ==
According to the myth as recounted by [[Ovid]], Arachne was a [[Lydians|Lydian]] maiden who was the daughter of [[Idmon]] of [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]], who was a famous dyer in purple.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses'', 6. 8</ref> She was credited to have invented linen cloth and nets, while her son Closter introduced the use of the spindle in the manufacture of wool. She was said to have been a native of [[Hypaepa]], near Colophon in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]].<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]]. ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=7:chapter=57&highlight=arabus#note10 Book 7.56.3];'' According to Justin, B. ii. c. 6, the Athenians introduced the use of wool among their countrymen; but it has been supposed that they learned it from the Egyptians. As we have sufficient evidence that the Egyptians manufactured linen at a very early period, we may presume that this account of Arachne either is fabulous or that, in some way or other, she was instrumental in the introduction of linen into Greece.</ref>

The first of the [[Vatican Mythographers]] wrote that Arachne was the daughter of 'Edmon' and 'Ippopis'.{{sfn|Pepin|2008|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA49 49], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA135 135]}}

== Mythology ==
=== Ovid ===
[[File:Antonio Tempesta Arachne.jpg|thumb|''[[Minerva]] and Arachne'' ([[Antonio Tempesta]])]]

In ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', the Roman poet [[Ovid]] writes that Arachne was a shepherd's daughter who began weaving at an early age. She became a great weaver, boasted that her skill was greater than Minerva's, and refused to acknowledge that her skill came, at least in part, from the goddess. Minerva took offense and set up a contest between them. Presenting herself as an old lady, she approached the boasting girl and warned her that it was unwise to compare herself to any of the gods and that she should plead for forgiveness from Minerva.

Arachne was not disheartened and boasted that if Minerva wished to make her stop, she should appear in person and do it herself. Immediately, Minerva removed her disguise and appeared in shimmering glory, clad in a sparkling white [[Chiton (costume)|chiton]]. The two began weaving straight away. Minerva's weaving represented four separate contests between mortals and the gods in which the gods punished mortals for setting themselves as equals of the gods. Arachne's weaving depicted ways that the gods, particularly Zeus, had misled and abused mortals, tricking and seducing many women. When Minerva saw that Arachne had not only insulted the gods but done so with a work far more beautiful than Minerva's own, she was enraged. She ripped Arachne's work to shreds and hit her on the head three times with her shuttle. Shaken and embarrassed, Arachne took her life by hanging.

Seeing that, Minerva felt pity for the girl, transforming her into a spider, which would go on to create webs for all time, as would her descendants. Minerva did so by sprinkling her with the juice of Hecate's herb,

<blockquote>[A]nd 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. Her slender fingers stuck to her sides as legs, the rest is belly, from which she still spins a thread, and, as a spider, weaves her ancient web.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kline|first1=A.S|title=Ovid—the Metamorphoses |url=http://tikaboo.com/library/Ovid-Metamorphosis.pdf|website=Tikaboo|publisher=A.S. kline|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418003817/http://tikaboo.com/library/Ovid-Metamorphosis.pdf|archive-date=18 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

The myth of Arachne can also be seen as an attempt to show the relationship between art and tyrannical power in Ovid's time. He wrote under the emperor Augustus and was exiled by him. At the time, weaving was a common metaphor for poetry; therefore, Arachne's artistry and Minerva's censorship of it may offer a provocative allegory of the writer's role under an autocratic regime.<ref>Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=78}}</ref>

==== The tapestries ====
Minerva wove a tapestry with themes of hubris being punished by the gods, as a warning to Arachne against what she was doing, in each of its four corners. Those were Hera and Zeus transforming [[Rhodope (queen)|Rhodope]] and [[Haemus]] into the eponymous mountain ranges, Hera transforming Queen [[Gerana]] into a crane for daring to boast of being more beautiful than the queen of the gods, Hera again turning [[Antigone of Troy]] into a stork for competing with her, and finally [[Cinyras]]' daughter being petrified. Those four tales surrounded the central one, which was Minerva and [[Poseidon]]'s dispute on the [[areopagus]] over which would receive the city of [[Athens]]; Minerva offered an olive tree, and Poseidon a saltwater spring (the Athenians eventually chose Minerva). Finally, the goddess surrounded the outer edges with olive wreaths.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 6.70-102</ref>

Arachne meanwhile chose to include several tales of male gods tricking and deceiving women by assuming other forms instead of their own. She depicted Zeus transformed into: a bull for [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]], an eagle for [[Asteria]], a swan for [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]], a satyr for [[Antiope (mother of Amphion)|Antiope]], [[Amphitryon]] for [[Alcmene]], golden shower for [[Danaë]], flame for [[Aegina (mythology)|Aegina]], a shepherd for [[Mnemosyne]], and a snake for [[Persephone]]. Poseidon transformed into a bull for [[Canace]], [[Enipeus (mythology)|Enipeus]] for [[Iphimedeia]],{{efn|Usually, Poseidon was said to have taken the form of Enipeus to trick [[Tyro]] (who also had twins), not Iphimedeia.}} a ram for [[Theophane]], a horse for [[Demeter]], a bird for [[Medusa]], and a dolphin for [[Melantho]]. [[Apollo]] transformed into a shepherd for Issa, and further as a countryman, a hawk, and a lion on three more obscure occasions, [[Dionysus]] as 'delusive grapes' for [[Erigone (daughter of Icarius)|Erigone]], and finally [[Cronus]] as a horse for [[Philyra (Oceanid)|Philyra]]. The outer edge of the tapestry had flowers interwoven with entangled ivy.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 6.103-128</ref>

=== Other attestations ===
An ancient [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]ian black-figure [[aryballos]] dating to the early sixth-century BC ({{circa}} 580-560 BC) has been suggested to depict the weaving contest of Athena and Arachne, which would make it the earliest attestation of the myth if accurate.<ref>{{cite book | location = United States | isbn = 978-1-78297-663-9 | title = Athenian Potters and Painters | volume = III | first = John | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EV7dCQAAQBAJ | date = August 31, 2014 | publisher = [[Oxbow Books]] | last = Oakley | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=EV7dCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 99]}}</ref><ref>{{cite object | title = Aryballos with a representation of the myth about the battle between Arachne and Athena | last = Unknown | medium = Clay | dimensions = | orig-date = 580-560 BC | museum = [[Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth]] | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231004070809/https://www.corinth-museum.gr/collection-item/αρύβαλλος-με-παράσταση-του-μύθου-της-α/ | archive-date = 2023-10-04 | url-status = dead | location = [[Corinth]], [[Greece]] | url = https://www.corinth-museum.gr/en/collection-item/aryballos-with-a-representation-of-the-myth-about-the-battle-between-arachne-and-athena/ | access-date = June 4, 2023}}</ref> However it has been noted that this interpretation is not an indisputable one, and the aryballos could be simply depicting Athena teaching the art of weaving to the people, with no relation to Arachne whatsoever.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Αρχαιολογικά Ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών | language = Greek | publisher = General Directorate of Antiquities and Restoration | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-Aw0olYBkBsC | journal = Athens Annals of Archaeology | trans-title = Archaeological Analects from Athens | volume = 3-4 | date = 1971 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=-Aw0olYBkBsC&pg=PA95 95]}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the earliest written attestation of a spider who clashed with Minerva comes courtesy of [[Virgil]], a Roman poet of the first century BCE who wrote that the spider is hated by Minerva but did not explain the reason why.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' 4.246 ff</ref> The satirical writer [[Lucian]], around the second century AD, wrote in his [[List of works by Lucian|work]] ''The Gout'' that the "Maeonian maid Arachne thought herself Athene's match, but she lost her shape and still today must spin and spin her web".<ref>{{cite book | page = [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/lucian-gout/1967/pb_LCL432.355.xml 318-319] | author = Lucian | author-link = Lucian | title = Soloecista. Lucius or The Ass. Amores. Halcyon. Demosthenes. Podagra. Ocypus. Cyniscus. Philopatris. Charidemus. Nero. | translator = M. D. MacLeod | series = [[Loeb Classical Library]] 432 | location = Cambridge, MA | publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] | date = 1967}}</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote that Arachne had a son, Closter (meaning "spindle" in Greek), by an unnamed father, who invented the use of the spindle in the manufacture of wool.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' 7.196</ref> The Vatican Mythographers also recorded the tale largely as found in Ovid, however the first of them wrote that Arachne was defeated in the contest.{{sfn|Pepin|2008|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA49 49], [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA135 135]}}

In a rarer version, Arachne was a girl from [[Attica]] who was taught by Athena the art of weaving, while her brother [[Phalanx (mythology)|Phalanx]] was taught instead martial arts by the goddess. But then the two siblings engaged in incestuous intercourse, so Athena, disgusted, changed them both into spiders, animals doomed to be devoured by their own young.<ref>{{cite book | title = A Web of Fantasies: Gaze, Image, and Gender in Ovid's Metamorphoses | first = Patricia B. | last = Salzman-Mitchell | publisher = [[Ohio State University Press]] | date = 2005 | ISBN = 0-8142-0999-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Sfz9GZIYPcsC | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sfz9GZIYPcsC&pg=PA228 228]}}</ref>

[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] wrote that spiders neither know nor wish to know Athena's art of weaving, because such animals do not need clothes.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Historical Miscellany'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=dma9h97GkvUC&pg=PA27 2]</ref> In a different work, however, he contradicts himself by writing that spiders are 'dexterous weavers after the manner of Athena'.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Characteristics of Animals'' [https://topostext.org/work/560#6.56 6.56]</ref>

== Influence ==
[[File:Velazquez-las hilanderas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Las hilanderas (Velázquez)|''The Spinners, or, The Fable of Arachne'']] (1644–48) by [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]]]]

The metamorphosis of Arachne in Ovid's telling furnished material for an episode in [[Edmund Spenser]]'s mock-heroic ''[[Muiopotmos]]'', 257–352.<ref>Written c. 1590 and published in ''[[Complaints (Spenser)|Complaints]]'', 1591. Spenser's allusion to Arachne in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', ii, xii.77, is also noted in {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Reed |title=The Metamorphoses in Muiopotmos |journal=Modern Language Notes |date=1913 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=82–85 |doi=10.2307/2916008 |jstor=2916008 }}</ref> Spenser's adaptation, which "rereads an Ovidian story in terms of the Elizabethan world" is designed to provide a rationale for the hatred of Arachne's descendant Aragnoll for the butterfly-hero Clarion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brinkley |first1=Robert A. |title=Spenser's Muiopotmos and the Politics of Metamorphosis |journal=ELH |date=1981 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=668–676 |doi=10.2307/2872956 |jstor=2872956 }}</ref>

[[Dante Alighieri]] uses Arachne in [[Inferno (Dante)#Seventh Circle (Violence)|Canto XVII]] of ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', the first part of ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', to describe the horrible monster [[Geryon]]. "His back and all his belly and both flanks were painted arabesques and curlicues: the Turks and Tartars never made a fabric with richer colors intricately woven, nor were such complex webs spun by Arachne."<ref>[[Dante Alighieri]], ''The Divine Comedy, Volume 1: Inferno''. Canto XVII, lines 15-18 (pp. 223-224). Translated by Mark Musa.</ref>

The tale of Arachne inspired one of [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]]' most factual paintings: ''[[Las Hilanderas (Velázquez)|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), and in the back, an ''Abduction of Europa'' that is a copy of [[Titian]]'s version (or maybe of [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]]' copy of Titian). In front of it appears Minerva (Athena) at the moment she punishes 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).<ref>{{cite web|title=La légende d'Arachné|url=http://www.cineclubdecaen.com/peinture/peintres/velazquez/arachne.htm|access-date=20 February 2013|language=fr}}</ref>

It has also been suggested that [[Jeremias Gotthelf]]'s nineteenth-century novella, ''[[The Black Spider]]'', was heavily influenced by the Arachne story from Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gallagher |first1=David |title=The Transmission of Ovid's Arachne Metamorphosis in Jeremias Gotthelf's Die Schwarze Spinne |journal=Neophilologus |date=October 2008 |volume=92 |issue=4 |pages=699–711 |doi=10.1007/s11061-007-9071-y |s2cid=162479504 }}</ref> In the novella, a woman is turned into a venomous spider having reneged on a deal with the devil.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gotthelf |first=Jeremias |title=The Black Spider |date=2013 |publisher=New York Review Books |others=Susan Bernofsky |isbn=978-1-59017-668-9 |location=New York}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
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| File: Pendule met Arachne en Athene - Meissen porselein 001.JPG
 | Pendule with Arachne and Athena in [[Meissen porcelain]], attributed to Johann Gottlieb Kirchner and George Fritzsche (1727)
 | alt1=
| File:Paolo_Veronese_-_Dialettica_-_Decorazione_del_soffitto_-_Sala_del_Collegio_-_Palazzo_Ducale_Venezia.jpg
 | Paolo Veronese - Dialettica - Palazzo Ducale
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== See also ==
{{portal|Ancient Greece|Ancient Rome|Mythology}}
* [[Cultural depictions of spiders]]
* [[Marsyas]], a [[satyr]] who engaged in a musical contest with Apollo and also suffered for his presumption
* [[Medusa]], who was also transformed as a result of Athena's wrath in some versions
* [[Alcinoë of Corinth]], another woman punished by Athena over a textile-related matter
* [[407 Arachne]], an asteroid named after Arachne

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
=== Primary sources ===
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On the Characteristics of Animals'', translated by Alwyn Faber Scholfield (1884-1969), from Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, published in three volumes by Harvard/Heinemann, Loeb Classical Library, 1958. [https://topostext.org/work/560 Available at Topos Text.]
* Aelian, ''Historical Miscellany'', edited and translated by N. G. Wilson, published by Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library 486, 1997. {{ISBN|0-674-99535-X}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dma9h97GkvUC Google books.]
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' vi.1–145
* [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]'' vii.56.196
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' iv.246-247

=== Secondary sources ===
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aid%3Darachne Harry Thurston Peck, ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'' (1898)] (13.23)
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Arachne}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Harries |first1=Byron |title=The spinner and the poet: Arachne in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' |journal=Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society |date=1990 |volume=36 |issue=216 |pages=64–82 |doi=10.1017/S006867350000523X |jstor=44696682 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hejduk |first1=Julia D. |title=Arachne's Attitude: Metamorphoses 6.25 |journal=Mnemosyne |date=2012 |volume=65 |issue=4/5 |pages=764–768 |doi=10.1163/156852512X585241 |jstor=41725255 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Höfler |first1=Stefan |last2=Nielsen |first2=Johan Ulrik |title=A Proto-Indo-European word for 'spider'? : un-weaving the prehistory of the Greek ἀράχνη and the Latin arāneus |journal=Graeco-Latina Brunensia |date=2022 |issue=1 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.5817/GLB2022-1-6 |hdl=11222.digilib/145031 |s2cid=251755480 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book | title = The Vatican Mythographers | first = Ronald E. | last = Pepin | publisher = [[Fordham University Press]] | date = 2008 | location = [[New York City]] | isbn = 978-0-8232-2892-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC}}

{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Women in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into arthropods in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological spiders]]
[[Category:Deeds of Athena]]
[[Category:Characters in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Textiles in folklore]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Anatolia]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Attica]]
[[Category:Mythological people involved in incest]]
[[Category:Hubris myths]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Suicides by hanging]]