Arachne: The First Spider

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Arachne The First Spider

• By Alexis VanFleet, Curtis Barbacci, Shelby
  Foster

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• Arachne was the daughter of a shepard who was
  famous for dying wools purple. Arachne was a
  gifted weaver and studied with the war god,
  Athena.
• Everyone knew of Arachnes talent and beautiful
  tapestries that she weaved.

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• A nymph asked Arachne if she had learned her
  talents from the goddess Athena, but Arachne was
  too arrogant to admit she had ever had a mentor.
  She replied by saying no ones work was as fine
  as hers, and didnt care if Athena liked that or
  not. She also boasted that her work was beyond
  than that of any god.

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Upon hearing this, Athena disguised herself as an
old woman and went to Arachne to allow her a
chance for redemption. She told Arachne that you
must never anger the gods, and a humans work
never has no room for improvement. Arachne then
said, What do you know, youre so old youre
probably senile! I dont need your advice or
Athenas. Athena had seen enough and revealed
her true identity.
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Upon revealing herself, Athena said, Let it be
so! A contest between you and I. Arachne readily
agreed to the challenge. Athena called the
goddess, Envy, to be the judge. They weaved all
night, and in the morning both tapestries were
beautiful. Athena decided to depict the gods in
all of their wondrous accomplishments in her
tapestry. Arachne, on the other hand, decided to
depict the gods in a negative light in her work.
She showed Zeus and his many love affairs and a
drunken Dionysus. Envy declared that both works
were flawless, and she could not decide who the
winner was.
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Athena was very angry that Ariadne had insulted
the gods in such a way. She ripped apart her
tapestry and placed a curse on the girl.
Suddenly, Arachne began to shrink and all of her
hair fell out. She sprouted two more arms and
legs and kept shrinking until she was just a
large body with a small head and eight limbs.
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Athena had punished Arachne by
transforming her into the first spider. In this
form, she would be cursed to be a weaver for all
her life. However, nobody would be awed by these
weavings as they were with her previous ones. It
all has come true today most people shudder at
the sight of cobwebs and hurry to sweep them away.
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• Arachnes story shows that you should never tempt
  the power of the gods. It is similar to the
  concept of respecting your elders the gods were
  more powerful than the Greeks and were expected
  to respect that.

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• Another moral of the story could be that you
  should never boast or brag that you are better
  than others. If you do, there will be negative
  consequences for you.

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Works Cited

• Arachne The Greek Goddess Who Became the First
  Spider. Goddess Gift. 25 Feb. 2009
  lthttp//www.goddessgift.com/?goddess-myths/?greek-
  goddess-arachne.htmgt.
• Kuchinsky, Charlotte. The Myth of How the First
  Spider Came to Be. Associated Content. 18 Apr.
  2008. 25 Feb. 2009 lthttp//www.associatedcontent.
  com/?article/?716213/?the_myth_of_how_the_first_sp
  ider_came.html?cat37gt.
• McCaughrean, Geraldine. Arachne the Spinner.
  Barrington Middle. 25 Feb. 2009
  lthttp//www.barringtonmiddle.org/?C9/?Ms20Samolis
  /?Document20Library/?Cause20and20Effect_Arachne
  20the20Spinner.pdfgt.
• The Tale of Arahne. Angelfire. 25 Feb. 2009
  lthttp//www.angelfire.com/?weird2/?randomstuff/?ar
  achne.htmlgt.