The Greek myth of Athena and Arachne is a myth of a wonderful contest
in which the skills of a goddess were matched against the skills of
disrespectful mortal Arachne. The young Arachne was of a very low
status in society, and for this reason the goddess Athena took pity on her
and taught her the art of weaving. Arachne was a very quick learner and soon she
became a master weaver, excelling in the skill of weaving. So
talented had Arachne become that the nymphs would gather to see her
beautiful designs.
Athena in
all her glory
People would gather in the hope of learning from
Arachne's great skill. Soon questions began to appear, "Arachne
who taught you how to weave so beautifully?", "No one" would
reply Arachne. Arachne had become engulfed in her self-conceit that she
could not even give credit to her teacher. However, everyone new that the
only one who could teach her this fine art was Athena, and they could not
understand how a mortal could have such disrespect towards a
god. Athena was saddened by the disrespect of her pupil so she
decided to pay her a visit in the hope that she could make Arachne realize
the folly of her ways. Athena came to her in the form of a very old woman
with jagged and torn old clothes, she told Arachne that she should respect
the gods as even the wise do, as true skill comes with age and wisdom.
Arachne would have none of this, why should she respect someone who in her
eyes did not help her? She proceeded to mock the goddess and challenged her
to an open contest.
Such disrespect Athena could no longer handle. Under the
shadow of the old woman appeared the glory of the god of wisdom and war
Athena. All who were present trembled in fear and bowed down to the
goddess Athena
offering her praise except Arachne.
The competition then began and each competitor proceeded to
weave beautiful masterpieces. Athena wove the story of how she won the
competition with Poseidon for the naming of Athens. The story told of how
Poseidon had struck the ground of Athens with his trident and brought forth
salt water, where as Athena struck the ground with her staff and brought
forth an olive tree. The people of Athens chose Athena as their patron
goddess over Poseidon as they found her gift more useful to their
city. Along with this creation she created images of mortals being
transformed to hideous beasts from gods as a result of their disrespect.
Athena in contest with Poseidon
Arachne's disrespect
was magnified in her marvelous design a clear mockery of her teacher
and the gods, she wove scenes of the brutality
of the gods showing them in compromising situations. Athena quickly became
angered, looking for fault in the girl's work she found none. Athena grew angry
and rose up hitting Arachne in the face
with her tool. Upon being struck Arachne realized the magnitude of her
arrogance and hung her self.
Upon seeing the death of the girl Athena
became saddened and decided that the girl should continue to weave as should her descendants
for all time. She sprinkled her with a magic potion and transformed her into
a spider.. and till this day we can find her descendants spinning their magnificent webs
throughout world.