Arachne
Arachne ( old Gr . Ἀράχνη Aráchnē ( Sg. F. ), 'Spider') is a figure in Greek mythology . The talented but haughty weaver challenged Athena - Greek goddess a . a. of art, craft and handicraft - to a competition in the field of web art , which she mastered with flying colors. This enraged the Olympian to such an extent that she eventually turned her mortal competitor into a web spider .
The Arachne saga is a late addition to Greco-Roman mythology .
myth
Arachne was the daughter of Idmon von Kolophon , who had made a name for himself as a purple dyer . Her mother died early. Arachne was a weaver in the Lydian city of Hypaipa who was widely praised for her special skills.
This made her arrogant and she began to boast that her weaving skills were even greater than that of Pallas . This in turn angered the goddess, but she wanted to give Arachne one more opportunity to moderate herself. Therefore, Athena appeared in the form of an old, wise woman and warned Arachne of her hubris . But Arachne showed no insight and only asked challengingly why the goddess was not coming herself. “There she is!” Said Athena and revealed her true form. Now the two women went to work. As a motif for her tapestry, Athene chose a scene that shows how she triumphed against Poseidon in the competition for the patronage of Athens , while Arachne depicted twenty-one scenes showing the gods in their love affairs.
Even Athena had to admit that Arachne's work was flawless. Her envy and abuse at having been brought before a mortal like this made her lose her composure. She tore up Arachne's tapestry and hit her competitor with her weaving shuttle . Arachne, who now completely feared the goddess' vengeance, hanged herself on it. But Athena did not let her die, but loosened the rope around her neck and sprayed the poison of the monkshood , whereupon the rope turned into a spider web and Arachne into a spider . So Arachne and her descendants were doomed to weave and hang by strings for all eternity.
In many Romance languages, Arachne is the direct eponym for the spider: for example “araignée” in French , “araña” in Spanish or “ragno” in Italian . The scientific names of the arachnids ( Arachnida ) and several subgroups, in particular that of the spiders ( Araneae ), are derived from it.
Interpretations
- The legend suggests that humans copied weaving from spiders and that weaving was originally perfected in Asia Minor .
- The narrative seems an early trading contest between the Athenians and the lydio- Carian Thalossokraten , the Cretan origin were to reflect. Numerous seals with a spider emblem found in Miletos in Crete - the mother city of Carian Miletos and the largest exporter of dyed woolen fabrics in the ancient world - show that there was an extensive textile industry there at the beginning of the second millennium BC. For a time the Milesers ruled the profitable trade in the Black Sea . They also maintained warehouses in Naukratis, Egypt .
swell
- Ovid , Metamorphoses vi.1-145
- Virgil , Georgica iv. 246
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert von Ranke-Graves , Greek Mythology , p. 88. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, 2007.
Web links
- Project Gutenberg-DE German translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses