The Curse of Arachne, the First Spider | The Story of Arachne and Athena | Greek Mythology

Once upon a time, there was a young woman, whose name was Arachne. Arachne was an excellent weaver, and the daughter of a village shepherd, who began weaving at an early age. By the time she had grown up, her weaving skills had become perfect, and highly remarkable, recognized far and wide. However, Arachne became very boastful, bragging that her weaving skills surpassed that of Athena herself. When Athena heard this, she one day appeared to the mortal woman, while she was bragging again, and warned her thus. Change from your boastful ways, child, for you can never compare to the deathless gods. Beg for mercy, and Athena may spare your soul. But Arachne was unrepentant, and stubborn, daring the goddess to come down, and challenge her to a weaving contest. At this, Athena removed her disguise, revealing her sparkling self in her glory, and challenged Arachne to a contest, to see who weaved the most beautifully. The two immediately began weaving at their very best. Athena's weaving told the story of four contests between mortals and the gods, in which the victorious gods punished the mortals for considering themselves equal to the immortal gods, while Arachne's weaving depicted the cruelty of the gods, telling of how the gods abused and mistreated humans, telling of how Zeus tricked and seduced many women. Athena saw that Arachne's weaving was clearly more beautiful than her own, but also, Arachne had insulted and disrespected the gods, a mere mortal against the deathless gods. Furious, Athena tore Arachne's weaving to pieces, and struck her three times on the head. Filled with shame, Arachne hung herself, but the goddess was not done with her. Cursing her to spin the threads all her days, Athena sprinkled Hecate's magic herb on Arachne, transforming her into a spider. Arachne's hair, nose, and ears fell out, her head, limbs, and body became tiny, while her belly became huge, from which she spun her web. She had drawn the ire of the goddess, condemned to eternally weave the web as a spider. This is the myth of Arachne, the first spider.