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Arachne

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.
Arachne (ərăk`nē), in Greek mythology, a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a trial of skill in weaving. When Arachne won, the goddess forced Arachne to hang herself. Athena then turned Arachne into a spider and her weaving into a cobweb.

Arachne

In Greek mythology, the daughter of the dyer Idmon of Colophon. She was a weaver who acquired such skill that she ventured to challenge Athena to a contest. Athena wove a tapestry showing the gods in majesty, while Arachne depicted them in their amorous adventures. Enraged at the perfection of her rival's work, Athena tore it to shreds, whereupon Arachne hanged herself. Out of pity Athena loosened the rope, which became a cobweb, and Arachne was changed into a spider.


Arachne
presumptuously challenges Athena to weaving contest; transformed into spider. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 69]
See : Arrogance

Arachne
skilled weaver; changed into spider for challenging Athena to weaving contest. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 27]

Arachne
won weaving contest against Athena, who then changed her into a spider. [Gk. Myth.: Jobes, 116]

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According to legend, Arachne produced such a wonderful weaving that she provoked the jealousy of the goddess Athena, who turned her into a spider.
The women in Velazquez's The Fable of Arachne (The Spinners), 1644-48, come from Titian and Rubens; Victorine Meurent and Manet's brother and brother-in-law have a picnic a la Raphael and Giorgione/Titian in the Dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863.
In Greek mythology, skilled Arachne challenged Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patron of the loom, to a contest.
 
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