Arachne

In the mythic narrative preserved chiefly in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 6), Arachne is a Lydian maiden, daughter of Idmon of Colophon, famed for exceptional skill at weaving. Boasting that her skill exceeded that of Athena/Minerva, she is challenged by the goddess to a weaving contest. Arachne weaves tapestries that depict the amorous deceits and abuses of the gods; enraged by the subject matter and the mortal's insolence, Athena destroys Arachne's work. According to Ovid, Arachne attempts suicide by hanging; Athena then transforms her into a spider so that she and her descendants forever spin and weave, providing an etiological explanation for spider web-making.

As human Arachne is described as a young Lydian maiden renowned for her weaving rather than by distinctive physical features. Ovid's metamorphosis passage provides the transformed appearance: her hair fell out, her nose and ears vanished, her head and body shrank to a minute size, her slender fingers adhered to her sides as legs, and the remainder of her became a rounded abdomen — from which she continues to spin thread and weave webs as a spider.

As a mortal she possesses exceptional, even legendary, weaving skill and artistic competence from youth; she composes tapestries detailed enough to depict the gods' actions. After transformation she spins thread and weaves webs — the myth is explicitly etiological for spiders' web-spinning. The sources do not attribute further supernatural powers to her post-transformation; the narrative emphasizes loss (human life) and continuity of craft rather than acquisition of new divine abilities. Her principal failing in the story is hubris — boasting and depiction of divine misdeeds — which provokes divine punishment.