Arachne was famous throughout Lydia for her art. Nymphs often gathered from the slopes of Tmol and from the banks of the gold-bearing Pactolus to admire her work. Arachne spun threads like fog into fabrics as transparent as air. She was proud that she had no equal in the world in the art of weaving. One day she exclaimed:
- Let Pallas Athena herself come to compete with me! She can't defeat me; I'm not afraid of this.
And then, under the guise of a gray-haired, hunched old woman leaning on a staff, the goddess Athena appeared before Arachne and said to her:
“Old age brings with it more than one evil, Arachne: years bring experience with them.” Take my advice: strive to surpass only mortals with your art. Don't challenge the goddess to a contest. Humbly ask her to forgive you for your arrogant words. The goddess forgives those who pray.
Arachne let go of the thin yarn; her eyes flashed with anger. Confident in her art, she boldly answered:
“You are unreasonable, old woman. Old age has deprived you of your reason.” Read such instructions to your daughters-in-law and daughters, but leave me alone. I can give myself advice too. What I said, so be it. Why isn’t Athena coming, why doesn’t she want to compete with me?
- I'm here, Arachne! - exclaimed the goddess, taking on her real image.
The nymphs and Lydian women bowed low before the beloved daughter of Zeus and praised her. Only Arachne was silent. Just as the sky lights up with scarlet light in the early morning when the rose-fingered Zarya-Eos flies into the sky on her sparkling wings, so Athena’s face blushed with the color of anger. Arachne stands by her decision; she still passionately wants to compete with Athena. She has no presentiment that she is in danger of imminent death.
The competition has begun. The great goddess Athena wove the majestic Athenian Acropolis in the middle of her blanket, and on it depicted her dispute with Poseidon for power over Attica. The twelve bright gods of Olympus, and among them her father, Zeus the Thunderer, sit as judges in this dispute. Poseidon, the shaker of the earth, raised his trident, struck the rock with it, and a salty spring gushed out from the barren rock. And Athena, wearing a helmet, with a shield and an aegis, shook her spear and plunged it deep into the ground. A sacred olive grew from the ground. The gods awarded victory to Athena, recognizing her gift to Attica as more valuable. In the corners the goddess depicted how the gods punish people for disobedience, and around it she wove a wreath of olive leaves. Arachne depicted on her veil many scenes from the life of the gods, in which the gods are weak, obsessed with human passions. All around Arachne wove a wreath of flowers entwined with ivy. The work of Arachne was the height of perfection; it was not inferior in beauty to the work of Athena, but in her images one could see disrespect for the gods, even contempt. Athena was terribly angry, she tore up Arachne's work and hit her with the shuttle. Unhappy Arachne could not bear the shame; she twisted the rope, made a noose and hanged herself. Athena freed Arachne from the loop and told her:
- Live, rebellious one. But you will hang forever and weave forever, and this punishment will last in your offspring.
Athena sprinkled Arachne with the juice of the magic herb, and immediately her body shrank, her thick hair fell from her head, and she turned into a spider. Since then, the spider-Arachne has been hanging in her web and forever weaving it, as she weaved during her life.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru