Arachne

For other uses, see Arachne (disambiguation).

Arachne in Gustave Doré's illustration for Dante's Purgatorio

In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne /əˈrækniː/ was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Athena, goddess of wisdom, weaving, and strategy. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. Offended by Arachne's arrogance, Athena set a contest between the two weavers. According to Ovid, the goddess was so envious of the magnificent tapestry and the mortal weaver's success, and perhaps offended by the girl's choice of subjects (the loves and transgressions of the gods), that she destroyed the tapestry and loom and slashed the girl's face. “Not even Pallas nor blue-fevered Envy \ Could damn Arachne's work. \ The goddess raged at the girl's success, struck through her loom, tore down the scenes of wayward joys in heaven.″ Ultimately, the goddess turned Arachne into a spider. Arachne simply means "spider" (ἀράχνη) in Greek. In another version of the myth, Arachne lost the weaving contest. She then hanged herself out of embarrassment. Later on, Athena finds Arachne's body and takes pity on her, before resurrecting her as a spider. Both these legends explain why spiders can weave webs.

Influence

From arachne are derived the taxonomical class name Arachnida, and the name for spiders in many romance languages.

The metamorphosis of Arachne in Ovid's telling furnished material for an episode in Edmund Spenser's mock-heroic Muiopotmos, 257-352. 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 descendent Aragnoll for the butterfly-hero Clarion.

The Spinners, or, The Fable of Arachne (1644–48) by Velázquez

The tale of Arachne inspired one of Velázquez' most factual paintings: 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), in the back,an Abduction of Europa that is a copy of Titian's version (or maybe of Rubens' copy of Titian). In front of it appears Minerva in the moment she is punishing 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).

In popular culture

• Gustave Doré's depiction of Arachne (pictured at top) was used in the marketing and posters for Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1968 cult film Fando y Lis.

• In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, she is pictured as a grotesque, half-woman, half-spider monster who nested on people to produce killer spiders.

• Arachne is the central character in the 2011 novel, The Spider Goddess by Tara Moss.

• In an episode of the animated series, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? called "The Tigress," the Chief summarizes the events of the legend.

• Gustave Doré's rendition of Arachne is one of the many recurring images used by the rock band, The Mars Volta. It has been used in the cover of their Live EP, as a backdrop for their live shows, and a favorite accessory for guitarist and composer Omar Rodríguez-López in the form of a belt buckle.

• In the modern classic fantasy The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, a plain brown spider is bewitched into believing that she is Arachne until the witch who enchanted her is killed.

• Many fantasy-themed video games, such as Castlevania and Devil Summoner, features Arachne along with other mythological creatures as either common enemies or as mighty "boss" monsters.

• In Class of the Titans, Arachne is a spider who makes a deal with Cronus to become human again. Cronus does not hold up the end of his bargain though and betrays her after getting her to trap the heroes for him. After being berated by Atlanta, Athena turns Arachne back into a human, for her to live at the Olympus High School, weaving for the gods.

• Arachne is the name used by the second Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter, currently the new Madame Web) to distinguish herself from Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman.

• Arukenimon's name is a romanization of her name in the Japanese version of Digimon Adventure 02, Arachnemon.

• Arachne Gorgon is a powerful witch and one of the main antagonists of Soul Eater. She was responsible for crafting the first demon weapons, an act that Death fiercely opposed, forcing her to bide her time and remain in hiding for 800 years. She returns to lead the risen Arachnaphobia, her personal army against Death.

• Arachne is the inspiration for a character featured in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

• Arachne is the nom de plume for one the UK Guardian Cryptic Crossword setters.

• In the 13th episode from season 6 of Supernatural, "Unforgiven," the monster of the week is an Arachne, depicted as a humanoid monster with spider-like attributes and abilities, including the ability to weave strong webs and a poisonous bite that can turn other humans into Arachnes. They can only be killed by decapitation.

• Arachne is an inspiration to the hero "Arachna" in the video game Heroes of Newerth.

• Arachne is featured as a playable Greek god in the video game SMITE.

• Arachne is also mentioned in the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. All of Athena's children, including Annabeth Chase, are arachnophobic because of Arachne's dispute with Athena. Arachne appears towards the end of The Mark of Athena as a large spider while still maintaining human features. She is defeated by Annabeth because of her pride and is eventually sent falling into Tartarus.
• Arakune in the game series Blazblue is a reference to this story.

• Arachne:Spider Girl! is a play for children based on the myth by Ursula Dubosarsky, first published in the NSW School Magazine.

• An unnamed prototype doll for the Monster High series simply called "Daughter of Arachne" was featured at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con alongside one of the Headless Headmistress and Scarah Screams, the daughter of the Banshee,to be the subjects of a poll to see which doll would be officially released at Comic-Con 2012. Scarah Screams ultimately won the poll. The Daughter of Arachne doll has red curly hair, coal black skin, eight arms, and two extra sets of eyebrows.

See also

• Cultural depictions of spiders

References

Primary sources

• Ovid, Metamorphoses vi.1-145
• Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia vii.56.196

Secondary sources

• Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) (13.23)

External links

 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arachne". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.