Athena and the Contest of Arachne

Author: Ovid

Time Period: 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Roman

Genre: Myth

Overview

The myth of Athena and Arachne (Arakhnê) was a late addition to the large canon of classical Greek mythology. The story is told in works by the Roman writers Ovid and Virgil, although Ovid’s account is much more substantial. Both of these poets were writing at the beginning of the Roman Empire, during the reign of Augustus. Although the myth is very rarely represented in statues or on Greek pottery, most scholars agree that it bears all the features of a myth of Greek origin, and it is just by chance that the earliest extant record of the myth is Roman. Ovid’s account of Arachne’s unfortunate tale is recorded in book 6 of his Latin narrative poem Metamorphoses. Along with recording classical myths of transformation, the Metamorphoses has the ambitious project of describing the history of the world from its formation to the deification of the Roman sovereign Julius Caesar. Interestingly, in Ovid’s version of the Arachne story, Athena is referred to as Pallas; elsewhere in the Metamorphoses, Athena is identified by the Roman name Minerva.

Arachne’s complicated story is about many different things. It fits into Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a tale of transformation, but perhaps more importantly, it is a cautionary tale that is meant to warn against the perils of hubris and the blasphemy of challenging the gods. The story depicts the severe wrath of Athena, a warrior-maiden goddess who, like other Olympians, is not immune to feelings of jealousy and spite. Athena’s jealous wrath is well documented in other myths; during the Trojan War, the goddess sided with the Greeks after Paris selected Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess in a contest among several goddesses.

Yet Athena’s awful wrath is encouraged by the hubris of Arachne, a young girl from Lydia who is renowned for her skill in woolwork. While hubris in any respect was looked down upon by the Greeks, hubris against the gods was regarded much like a cardinal sin. Many other characters who have exhibited hubris in myth, such as Ajax, Icarus, Oedipus, and Antigone, have suffered equally terrible fates. Although enraged, Athena meets Arachne in disguise and gives her an opportunity to make amends with the dishonored goddess, but Arachne remains brash and indignant, and instead of accepting the disguised goddess’s advice, Arachne further insults her. The fact that Arachne actually wins the contest against Athena is of little consequence; because of her hubris, her fate is, in some regards, already sealed.

The myth may also have an etiological function, as it is believed by some to explain the origin of spiders. From the name Arachne, Greek for “spider,” comes the modern scientific term “arachnid,” which is used to refer to spiders as well as scorpions, mites, and ticks. The myth of Arachne has also gone on to influence a variety of adaptations in popular culture. Her character and her transformation into a spider can be found in several movies, television shows, video games, novels, and illustrations and paintings.

Summary

In Lydia, there is a young girl named Arachne who has no distinction or pedigree but who has achieved renown for her unprecedented skill at woolwork. She is so good that her skill is said to rival that of the patron goddess of woolwork, Athena. Her widowed father, Idmon of Colophon, makes his livelihood by dyeing the wool purple. Both of her parents were lowborn, and Arachne lives in a modest town and a modest house, but these details hardly matter when the people in the towns of Lydia encounter Arachne’s remarkable skill with wool. The nymphs who live on the mountains of Tmolus and in Pactolus’s stream come to watch the grace with which she weaves the wool. As they and others watch her, it is obvious that Arachne has received her training from none other than Athena herself.

Yet despite how obvious this is, Arachne denies it—a blasphemous thing to do and an insult to the great goddess. The notion that Arachne’s talent is owed to Athena hurts her pride, and she often proposes to challenge Athena in a contest of skill. Angered by Arachne’s irreverence, Athena dresses herself in the guise of an old woman and goes to visit the girl. Sitting with Arachne, the disguised goddess tells her that because she is wise in years, she has learned that it is necessary to give the gods their due credit. She suggests that Arachne seek pardon from Athena and assures her that Athena would receive it warmly. Arachne cannot believe the audacity of the old woman and is so enraged that she almost strikes her. She insults the woman’s age and tells her that she does not need her advice. Once again, she goads Athena to the contest, questioning why Athena has not yet come to meet the challenge.

With that, Athena throws off her cloak and reveals herself to the defiant girl, causing the watching Lydian women and nymphs to bow down in reverence. But Arachne, who is fearless and determined to beat Athena in the contest, stands boldly. With all speed, Athena and Arachne prepare their looms by tying the warp to the crossbeam, and “a cane divides the threads; / The pointed shuttles carry the woof through . . . The comb’s teeth, tapping, press it into place” (122; bk. 6). They both work quickly with excellent poise and skill, weaving beautiful purple and gold threads into their tapestries. Athena chooses to depict her own mythical contest with the sea god (Greek Poseidon, Roman Neptune) for Athens and, into the four corners of the tapestry, weaves four examples of the transformative nature of the punishment that awaits her opponent. Arachne depicts different examples of the gods seducing mortals while disguised as animals, with flowers and ivy wrapping around the edges.

Regarding Arachne’s work, Athena can find no fault and is so enraged that she rips up her tapestry and strikes the girl four times on the head with a wooden shuttle. Unable to endure the torture of the goddess, Arachne ties a noose around her neck in order to hang herself. As she hangs, Athena begins to pity her and calls upon the girl to live for all of posterity and to be remembered for her wicked blasphemy. Before leaving to go, Athena sprinkles some of Hecate’s magic powder on the girl, causing her to transform into a spider. As a spider, Arachne’s fate is to weave her web for all eternity, and her story becomes known through all of Lydia.

“And as she turned to go, she sprinkled her / With drugs of Hecate, and in a trice, / Touched by the bitter lotion, all her hair / Falls off and with it go her nose and ears. / Her head shrinks tiny; her whole body’s small; / Instead of legs slim fingers line her sides. / The rest is belly; yet from that she sends / A fine-spun thread and, as a spider, still / Weaving her web, pursues her former skill.”

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