Arachne was a talented weaver but boastful of her talent and refused to accept her gift is from Athene. So, in anger, Athene had a weaving competition with her. In the end, Arachne was turned into a spider by Athene.
Explanation:
Arache, a mortal, refused to accept that the goddess Athene had bestowed her with her gift of weaving. When Athene heard about her boastful character, she disguised herself into an old woman and approached Arachne in person. When she refused to credit Athene for her talent and instead said that her talent is and from herself only. Athene and Arachne then had a weaving competition to see who is better. Athene weaved about mortals and their disobedience and disrespect of the Gods, with the Gods sitting at Mt. Olympus while Arachne in turn weaved about the bad qualities of the Gods against the mortals, especially Zeus who seduced and trapped many mortals. In all fairness, the weaving of Arachne was far better than Athene which angered her. Also, the move to display the Gods in that manner also added to the anger of Athene. So, she cursed Arachne and turned her into a spider.
Arachne was a girl who lived in Greece and was a very good weaver and spinner. People came from all around to see her beautiful cloth. Arachne began telling people that she was better at spinning and weaving than the goddess Athena was. Athena was also known as a good spinner and weaver and was mad when Arachne said that; so she challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. At the end, Athena had woven a beautiful cloth showing the gods and goddesses sitting together on Mt. Olympus and doing good deeds for people. But Arachne thought she was so smart, she wove a cloth making fun of the gods and goddesses, showing them getting drunk and falling down and making a mess of things, Still it was clearly better weaving than Athena had done. When Athena saw the cloth she became even more angry than before. So as punishment, Athena turned Arachne into a spider,
It was a terrible first night there. They were forced to sleep outside. It was raining and there was lice on their straw beds. The smell was terrible. It was very cold. They had one blanket to share. They stood and walked all day.
