Where was Arachne from?

1 Answer
May 26, 2018

Interestingly enough, I was in Spain 2 weeks ago, and of course I went to Museo del Prado to see Velazquez' #"Las Hilanderas"#.

Explanation:

And of course #"Las Hilanderas"# (#"The spinners"#) depict the Greek myth of the spinning contest between Arachne and the goddess Athena. Arachne was reputedly born in Colophon in Asia Minor...

en.wikipedia.org

I was just reading the accounts on the web, and she either won or lost the contest, and in any case Athena turned her into a spider. The Linnaean classification of spiders as #"arachnids"# clearly refers to the myth....