Pallas Athena and Arachnae
The story of Arachnae is really a subsection of the stories surrounding Pallas Athena of the Greek Pantheon.
Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom, patroness of arts and crafts, and a fearsome warrior. While her male counterpart, Ares, focused on the blood lust of war, Athena espoused logic, reason and justice. She was represented by an Owl and is associated with the olive tree.
Athena and her uncle, Poseidon, fought to see who would be chosen as the benefactor of the capital city of Attica. Each was to give a gift, and who evers gift was considered better would be chosen as patron. Poseidon struck the rock with his trident and from the resulting hole poured forth salty water. This represented his gift - a strong navy and new trade routes. This was a valuable gift indeed.
Athena struck the rock with her spear and an olive tree sprang forth. This represented the region's prime trade - olive oil was used in cooking, as lamp fuel, and in cosmetics, soaps and medicines. Athena's gift was considered the greater and the city was named Athens in her honor.
While she was a virgin goddess, her favors were reserved for men. Athena may have been an empowered female but that did not mean she was going to empower other females in her likeness. Quite the contrary. Athena was, in fact, a jealous goddess, allowing no competition or rivals to enter into her sphere.
On one occasion, a nymph happened to catch sight of her nude body as she bathed. As punishment for seeing her naked, Athena removed the nymph's power of sight. To temper the harshness of the punishment, Athena gave the nymph the ability to see the future. Such lenience would not have been shown to a woman.
Athena chose to support various men throughout Greek history. These included Achilles, whom she helped win the Battle of Troy and Hercules (Herakles), whom she helped in his twelve labors, set as punishment for the murder of his wife and children.
Women such as Medusa attracted a less sympathetic side of Athena. Threatened by the young woman's beauty - which rivaled her own - Athena changed Medusa into a gorgon, a creature whose head was covered not with hair but with snakes. A creature whose visage was so hideous that a single glance at her turned men to stone.
Athena then aided Perseus in his task to capture Medusa's head. He used a mirror so that Medusa saw her own appearance and became stone, whereupon he was able to look upon her safely.
This brings us to Arachnae.
Athena's pastimes included the art of weaving. When news reached her of a young woman, possibly a princess, named Arachnae, who had been bragging of her talent as a weaver, she sent for her and challenged her to a contest.
When it transpired that Arachnae's weaving in fact was comparable to Athena's own, Athena's vengeance knew no bounds. She turned Arachnae into a spider, forcing her to spend the rest of her life hanging from a tree, spinning her web.
