Hi, my name is Arachne!

You might know me as a young lady, and sometimes said to be a princess who offended Athena. I am form Lydia. I was gifted in the art of weaving. My symbol is the spider. My works were so good that observers often said that I must have been trained by the goddess of weaving, Athena. I didn’t like to be known as worst than Athena so I told everyone that she could never do better than me.

One day an old lady came to me a told me to be careful not to offend the gods. I asked for a contest with Athena, and, if I lost, I would suffer whatever punishment Athena demands me. The contest began, Athena and I started weaving, each of us a different scene. Even Athena had to admit that my work was perfect. Athena was angered and she destroyed the tapestry. Then she touched my forehead in order for me to felt full guilt for my actions. After that, I was depressed and I hanged myself.

Athena brought me back to life but not as a human, as a spider.

You can see my picture on the top when i was weaving.

Silvia Uribe G.

LEE, Melissa. "Arachne". http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/arachne.html November 25, 2007.