Athena is the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare. Born from Zeus’s head, she is considered the smartest and most charismatic goddess of Greek mythology.
You can recognise her by her helmet tilted to the back of her head. She carries the aegis, her famous shield featuring an image of Medusa’s head, in one hand, and a spear in the other. Perhaps she is best known for being the protector of Athens, the city that was named after her when she won a contest against Poseidon.
In the contest, the immortals are supposed to offer the citizens the most useful gift. Poseidon, ever the brute and God of the sea, strikes forth salt water. This might have been a fascinating gift if the citizens weren’t surrounded by the ocean. They already have plenty of salt water.
Athena decides to invent something very special. A tree grows from the ground, and in its shade, the citizens can escape the scorching sun. But that is not all. Fruits spring from the tree. Athena shows the mortals that they can eat them, but they can also turn them into so-called ‘olive oil’. This can be used for cooking, but also for skincare, haircare, furniture maintenance, leather conditioning, rust prevention, and natural cleaning.
Ever sure of herself, Athena is not surprised that the citizens are amazed by her invention and choose her as the winner of the contest. It is also from this story that the olive wreath was later awarded to the winners of the Olympic Games.
So, the citizens name their city Athens in honour of Athena. Poseidon, enraged and ever the brute, strikes forth more salt water, creating more ocean around the city of Athens and, as legend has it, this is the reason why Athens is surrounded by the sea.
Naturally, Poseidon has hated her ever since. Later, Poseidon once again becomes her rival when she guides Odysseus back to Ithaca, whom Poseidon wanted to be forever lost at sea.
Clearly, Athena has many skills, but the one skill she is most proud of is her talent for weaving tapestries. On Olympus, she decorates many halls with her artwork, and all the Olympians marvel at the products of her crafty hands.
However, there is a mortal whose weaving skills surpass all others. Her name is Arachne. She is a small-town girl, but even nymphs, the most gossipy species of immortals, come to her little workshop to watch her weave and create wonders of art.
Arachne knows that she is an excellent weaver and doesn’t mind when mortals and immortals alike tell her she is the best weaver they have ever seen. It didn’t take Athena very long to notice that she had a potential rival in her chosen skill. The nymphs are good at gossip.
Athena cannot let this stand. Besides, she loves a challenge. So, she transforms into a crone and visits Arachne’s workshop. Disguised, Athena tells Arachne what an excellent weaver she is. Arachne thanks her, not suspecting anything. Then Athena tells her that she had heard from some nymphs that Arachne was even better than Athena, the goddess of weaving. She adds that this is outrageous and that Arachne should yield to the grey-eyed goddess and beg for forgiveness.
At this moment, the nymphs watching the conversation, realise who the old woman is. Arachne still doesn’t suspect a thing. Instead, she just shrugs her shoulders and says, ‘I don’t know. She could come and visit. I don’t know why she hasn’t already. Perhaps she is afraid.’
Athena has heard enough. The crone transforms into Athena, and she stands in front of Arachne in full battle dress: ‘Whoever weaves the more beautiful tapestry is the winner and the best one at weaving.’
While Arachne was shocked that the Olympian goddess herself was in her workshop, she agrees to the challenge, and both start weaving. It is said that both create patterns of one thousand colours, shot through with gold.
Athena decides to weave the story of her competition with Poseidon, particularly the moment of victory when she hands the citizens the olive branch. She wants to underline how great she is. In the corners, she weaves scenes in which mortals tried to take on the gods and come off worse. Usually, they are transformed into animals or objects as punishment. But some meet worse fates:
The satyr Marsyas was flayed alive after losing a music competition against Apollo. Around the edges of the tapestry, Athena weaves olive branches as a symbol of peace, mocking all mortal lives. With her tapestry, Athena creates a testament to the triumphs of the gods: ‘Look at us! Worship us!’
Arachne weaves a different tapestry. She creates scenes of male gods kidnapping, assaulting, and raping mortal women. She starts with Zeus kidnapping Europa. Then she moves on to Leda, Alcmene, Danae and Proserpina.
She continues with Poseidon raping women while disguised as a river, a horse, a bird, and a dolphin. Then she creates scenes of Apollo doing the same, but in the form of a hawk, a lion and a shepherd and of how he pursued Daphne who was turned into a laurel tree by her compassionate father. Arachne adds many more gods to her tapestry.
This is Arachne’s answer to Athena’s tapestry: ‘The price is too high.’
For the first time in her immortal life, Athena is lost for words. So, just like her male counterparts, she chooses violence. She hits Arachne in the head, hurting her so badly that Arachne tries to commit suicide. Arachne runs outside and tries to hang herself from a tree, trying to regain a fraction of her self-determination before another god can choose the fate of yet another mortal human. But Arachne is not granted her wish.
Whether out of pity or as further punishment, Athena decides to sprinkle a potion over Arachne. The mortal woman transforms into a spider, and all her descendants will be spiders too. This is the end of Arachne and, according to Greek mythology, the beginning of how spiders came into our world.
However, this is also a story to warn you: Do not take on Athena. Do not take on the gods. Do not take on the powerful. Do not disrupt the status quo.
But it is also a story to make you think: First, be less afraid of spiders. They are the descendants of the greatest weaver among mortals and gods.
When a story in which the weak criticised the powerful through art and creativity thousands of years ago still vibrates into the present with such topicality, then let us keep following its example and try to disrupt the status quo.
What can the powerful do to us? Turn us into spiders? So be it. They are the descendants of the great Arachne, the mortal who was the greatest weaver among gods and mortals. It is a worthy inheritance.
