Just a bit of Knowledge - ΑΡΑΧΝΗ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΜΥΘΟΛΟΓΙΑ - The Myth of Arachne

...you may have read many articles about spiders...you may have watched many spider related documentaries...you may have even been the authors of posts about arachnids like myself and @ruth-girl ..but do you actually know the Legend of Arachne???? ...do you know the story lying behind The Legend....where did Arachne come from??? ...who created Arachne??? ...was she Evil???
...if you are interested in getting some answers to these questions you need to search deep into Hellenic Mythology struggling to find the truth about Arachne or you can spend a few minutes reading what follows...

_{illustration for Dante's Purgatorio 12 by Gustave Dore
image source: wikimedia.org - courtesy of: Sailko - license: CC-PD-Mark}

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...first things first!!!...
...lets make an attempt to give some information about the name...
...Arachne is a Hellenic word ... A-ra-chne = A -ρα -χνη ... it stands for the english version of spider ... Αραχνη=Arachne=Spider....
... that being said ,it is assumed that the word Αραχνη is coming from the 'root' αρκ-, of the noun 'αρκυς' = διχτυ ,which is the net (εις την βαρβαρικην) ...αρκυς=διχτυ=net....
....so according to this hypothesis Αραχνη,Arachne actually means the net,διχτυ
...at this point i have to add that in some ancient Hellenic written texts, we find the word φαλλαγγιον=phallageon, used for spider ...
...of course, you may now be wondering how can φαλλαγγιον=phallageon be a synonym to aracnhe,spider but i'm telling you it makes totally sense...don't worry i will explain how it makes sense but i'm gonna leave it for the end..it will be the icing on the cake!!!

_{The Fable of Arachne (Las Hilanderas) by Diego Velazquez,1655-1660
image source: wikimedia.org - courtesy of: Mattes - license: CC-PD-Mark}

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...to start unfolding the myth of Arachne i must take you back to ancient Hellenic Era... ...According to Hellenic Mythology Arachne was the daughter of Idmon from Colofone....a famous dyer in the area of ancient Lydia...
...She was a very beautiful woman,her beauty had no match but the most spectacular thing about Arachne was her weaving ability...her great talent and skills in handling the loom were sheer magic and her creations a sight to behold!!!!...it was believed that Goddess, Athena ^[2] Ergane herself (Patroness of various crafts and especially weaving) was actually the one that taught her the art of weaving...
...day by day her reputation was growing ,spreading from end to end....people from all over the close and distant kingdoms were gathering in Lydia in order to have a chance to purchase Arachne's wefts....it is said that even Nymphs ^[3](minor female nature deities) would often leave their shady woods and vine-clad slopes of mountain Tmolos rushing to admire the cloth she wove!!!! ...river-God Pactolos himself would stop his cool running streams of gold just to observe her weaving...such grace she had!!!!

..but don't forget...Arachne was only human...and as she was of flesh and blood she had weaknesses...quite vulnerable to mortal failings and unable to handle all this flattery around her she became arrogant, overproud and presumptuous...annoyed and displeased by being regarded as Athena's trainee she denied vigorously any connection to the Goddess...she began boasting about her skills,scorning the other weavers, pronouncing herself to be the best ever existed, far more superior even to the Goddess....

let her contend in art with me, and if her skill prevails, i then will forfeit all!!!!

.....that she said.....

...what a false step!!!!!!
...Hubris ^[1] did she commit!!!...the worst sin of all!!....

....υβρις =hubris, according to ancient Hellenic tradition was an insult to Gods generated by human arrogance and egoism against them, an insult like that, which was considered to be the ultimate sin, would never escape punishment!!!!!

_{image source: deviantart.com - courtesy of: Sophiaazhou - license:CC BY-NC-ND 3.0}

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... disappointment filled Athena's heart ...her beloved novice became so twisted, she could barely recognize her...in a last attempt,she decided to give her a chance to regret for her foolishness...she metamorphosed herself into an old woman and appeared before young Arachne....after praising her work and skills she tried to talk some sense into her head by advising that no matter how good she was she had to pay her respects to the Gods and ask for forgiveness..
...' how dare you, crossing the line between mortals and gods..how dare you, comparing your humbleness to a Goddess???..you should never forget Athena introduced this craft to the mortals and taught them how to use the loom ' ...
.....unable to understand the gravity of the old woman's words,full of anger and disrespect Arachne stood up ,throwing the thread she was holding in front of the granny's feet and said..

silly fool,worn out and witless in your palsied age.. a great age is your great misfortune!...Let your daughter and your son's wife,if the Gods have blessed you,let them profit by your words!!! within myself, my knowledge is contained sufficient; you need not believe that your advice does any good; for I am quite unchanged in my opinion. Get you gone,—advise your goddess to come here herself, and not avoid the contest!!!!

...Athena could take no more...she couldn't accept Arachne's unashamed and insulting behavior...in one move she revealed her true divine form and loudly spoken...

ATHENA COMES TO YOU

..all the area around flooded with blinding light and the Nymphs and other women standing there, fell on their knees out of awe...
...Arachne felt horror conquer her mortal heart and cold sweat covered her body but after this first shock she found the courage to stand her ground...
...it was far too late for anything else...
...she could do nothing but contest...

_{Minerva is worshiped by the Lydian women, but not by Arachne (1542) Painting by Hermann Posthumus on Ovid, Metamorphoses VI, 44 f
image source: wikimedia.org -courtesy of: Xocolatl - license: CC-PD-Mark}

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...and so the stage was set and the challenge began...both Athena and Arachne selected their positions over their looms and stretched their webs with the finest warp...
...Athena worked the story of how the citadel of Athens took its name after hers...she displayed the Athenian Hill of Mars where Cecrops built his citadel... Lord Zeus surrounded by the other Gods...Poseidon and Athena in the middle of the tapestry exhibit their gifts in order Cecrops to choose between them the best and therefore his citadel to be named after one of the two Gods...very wisely Athena decided to place in each of the four corners of her embroidery,humans who dared to defy Gods and the ruthless punishments they suffered from them for their Hybris...
...she had that hope..this very last moment Arachne might learn the folly of her mad attempt...
...putting an end Athena decorated the borders of her work with designs of peaceful olive,her devoted tree....
....what a divine masterpiece it was!!!!!

...but Arachne had no remorse...even at this point she tried to provoke the goddess with unspeakable recklessness...
...what she did was deliberately choose scenes that portrayed infidelities and flaws of the Gods...she wove how Zeus-turned into a bull- deceived and abducted Europa..how he transformed himself into a swan in order to rape the Spartan Queen Leda and many more of his tricky affairs...she wove scenes of Poseidon with virgin Antiope and with the fruitful Goddess Demeter...Apollo,Dionysous,Bacchus and other Gods adorned Arachne's creation ...she successfully managed to feature twenty-one scenes of various Gods misbehaviors....completing her work she wove all around the edges of her web,interlacing flowers and ivy leaves...

....although Arachne's subject made a mockery of the Supreme Gods of Olympus her work was no doubt a classic gem.... it was a phenomenon...it was almost alive!!!...like a flawless mirage!!!...even Athena couldn't find a single fleck...
...furious because Aracnhe had such skill but she was so disrespectful at the same time Athena stood in her glorious form and in one move she ripped Arachne's web into a thousand pieces striking her head with the wooden shuttle she was holding..
...Arachne frightened as she was she felt extremely embarrassed ... unwilling to accept such a shame she grabbed a cord and tied it around her neck in an attempt to hung herself...

_{Pallas and Arachne(oil on canvas), by Peter Paul Rubens,1636-37, Virgina Museum of Fine Arts
image source: wikimedia.org - courtesy of: Botaurus -license: Free Art License}

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...some say out of pity...i say out of vengeance ,Athena didn't let Arachne to die like this...she loosened her loop and pronounced another doom!!!!

Although i grant you life,most wicked one,your fate shall be to dangle on a cord,and your posterity forever shall take your example,that your punishment may last forever!!

...saying that she sprinkled her with juice from Hecate's herb,a dark poison...all her hair,her nose and ears fell off at once...her head and body rapidly shrunk in size and her beautiful slender fingers gathered to her sides as long thin legs!!!
..what was left had nothing to do with her former elegance and delicacy...
...and that was the torture Athena decided for Arachne to suffer.....
....ever since ,as a spider,she weaves her web speechless and incapable of doing anything else but weave..

_{image taken from pixabay.com}

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...at the beginning of the post i made you a promise...i told you that i will explain why in some ancient Hellenic written texts we find the word phallageon =φαλλαγιον used for spider...
...do you like gossip???....well what i'm about to reveal is actually kind of a gossip and a bit spicy as well...
....according to some sources Arachne had a brother...his name was Phallanx...Goddess Athena took under her protection brother and sister and taught them,to male Phallanx the art of weaponry and to female Arachne the art of weaving....but brother and sister commit incest...enraged about this unholy act Athena cursed on them and condemned them to crawl like disgusting creatures and to be consumed by their own children from ever since!!!!!
....so Arachne and Phallageon (Phallanx) having the same meaning is actually what you know as spider...

Ὁ δὲ Ζηνοδότειος Θεόφιλος ἱστορεῖ, ὡς ἄρα ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ δύο ἐγένοντο ἀδελφοὶ, Φάλαγξ μὲν ἄρσην, θήλεια δ' Ἀράχνη τοὔνομα· καὶ ὁ μὲν Φάλαγξ ἔμαθε παρὰ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὰ περὶ τὴν ὁπλομαχίαν, ἡ δὲ Ἀράχνη τὰ περὶ τὴν ἱστοποιίαν· μιγέντας δὲ ἀλλήλοις στυγηθῆναι ὑπὸ τῆς θεοῦ καὶ μεταβληθῆναι εἰς ἑρπετὰ, ἃ δὴ καὶ συμβαίνει ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων τέκνων κατεσθίεσθαι..
Θεόφιλος, Fragmenta 5, 3
_{original ancient Hellenic text}

...it's a little bit freaky and creepy,isn't it!!!!! ....weather you agree with the punishment or not that's the true story of Arachne...hope you enjoy it....and from now on, whoever asks you about the story of spider you know exactly how and what to respond!!!!

_{image taken from pixabay.com}

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_{References
chilonas.com
theoi.com
vagiablog.blogspot.com
logiosermis.net
mythagogia.blodspot.com
mixanitouxronou.gr
greek-language.gr
protagon.gr
books.google.gr
issu.com
liberal.gr
pyrisporos.blogspot.com
en.wikipedia.org^1,2,3,}