Athena and Arachne - Alexandria Huntington

Athene and Arachne, c.1475-85 by Jacopo Tintoretto (Robusti)

Source

Athena Tells Bedtime Stories to Telemachus

More fairy-godmother Athena / wholesome odyssey AU

Artist note:

A rough sketch of a scene that popped into my head. It made me smile, but I don't think I'm gonna finish it past this point. If anybody likes this scene you're welcome to draw it in your own style? I don't know if that's a thing people do. I think people adopt other people's characters sometimes but I don't know if it applies to whole art pieces. I think its called adopts?

KISS OF LIFE as Greek mythological figures

Classicstober Day 13: Arachne 🕸️

"It is a truth, often forgot, that the end is very rarely the end."

This was a fun lineup to do! The closeups are below the cut, and I've put design details/reasoning in the alt text. I rambled a bit this time, I hope people don't find that annoying.

When Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus. There's this line that Annabeth thinks while falling down that Heloise had speculated it would take 9 days to fall to tartarus.

In Tower of Nero when Apollo falls he too thinks the exact same thing as Annabeth while fallling. Only he isnt falling with a trusted loving friend like her but an extra large scary horrifying reptile who wants to kill him.

Yay Apollo got the worst deal he always does. sad.

Now

Lets see When Percy Annabeth fall its actually cause of Arachne, Athena's arch enemy longing for revenge for years, and Annabeth is daughter of Athena anyways Arachne falls and drags Annabeth with her just so she can take Annabeth dowm with her for revenge.

Then there's Python who has been longing to take his revenge on Apollo too... Apollo is his arch enemy who defeated him. He comes back when doors of death are open retakes his old cave of Delphi blocks Apollo's source of power and is longing for revenge on Apollo. Then Apollo takes drags him into tartarus with him. That if he gonna fall he's gonna take python with him.

In both cases Archane and Python they die or whatever while Apollo and percy with annabeth make it back up.

I feel like there's definitely something to be said here but i cant place my finger on it. and u all not ready for that conversation yet.

I didn't die yet

Here's Athena and Arachne I drew in history class today :D

This show has me all shocked Pikachu and ready to throw hands with Athena as if she isn't famously petty and this is brand new information.

Hey you want to be let in onto a little secret?

Arachne? The story of Arachne, her legend, her entire character?

...

Well it is very, very likely she never was part of Greek mythology and only belongs to Roman mythology.

Because there is no text from Ancient Greece that mentions her, and no visual depiction of her in Ancient Greek art.

You want to know where her story comes from? OVID. OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. Yes, THE defining Roman work of Roman literature that shaped Roman myths. That's literaly where Arachne comes from: Ovid. As a result, there are two possibilities. Either A) Ovid completely invented her (which is something he did other times, he did invent some characters we consider today to be part of Greek mythology) or B) He took inspiration from an actual Greek legend but twisted it and rewrote it in a weird way (This is what happened with Medusa. He wrote Medusa's story taking inspiration from the Greek legend that was told at the time, but changed the context entirely to fit his own literary and political goals. As such from a story of Medusa being turned into a Gorgon by Athena for being too vain and for boasting (a crime of "hubris", very Greek), Ovid wrote a story of Medusa being cursed for having been raped inside the goddess' temple (a crime of "impurity", much more Roman in values and notions).

However... It seems very unlikely to be either of those since, again, we literaly have no recording from Ancient Greece about Athena ever being involved with an "Arachne" or with spiders as a whole.

In fact, it seems that the closest answer to where Arachne comes from might be C) She might have been woven out of a purely Roman tradition projected onto the Greek myths.

Because the only other literary mention of Arachne ever in Ancient literature is Virgil's Georgics (Virgil being the other founding-father of Roman literature and literary Roman myths, thanks to his Aeneid), and Virgil doesn't even write of Arachne as a proper character or as a human. All he wrote is literaly, in a side-detail, in a brief mention, that Athena hates spiders. No explanation why, it is just "the spider is hated by Minerva". Given it is said so casually as a detail with no explanation, it is very possible this means this was a reference meant to be caught and understood by the Roman reader "The spider, this animal hated by Minerva as we all know". So... it seems very likely that the creation of Arachne as a character stems from a non-Greek, older tradition of the goddess Minerva (the proper Latin Minerva, the solely Roman goddess) having a problem with spiders.

And when Minerva was associated with the Greek goddess Athena, and the Roman had their authors rewrite or invent myths to have their own mythology (or rather their own AU on Greek mythology)... The tale got spread far enough and popular enough that everybody threw back the story onto the Greek Athena. After all, Arachne was a Greek name right? IT MEANS SHE WAS GREEK RIGHT? Well no, she was Roman :p That's another thing of Ovid, whenever he invented a character he made sure to give them Greek names so that it sounded like a real Greek character.

So yeah, while Arachne became one of the famous characters and legends of Greco-Roman mythology as a whole (what many call "Classical mythology"), she actually was NOT part of Greek mythology, and only existed from Hellenized Roman mythology onward. You're welcome.

f/f february: arachne & athena

requested by anon

Diego Velázquez (ES, 1599 - 1660)

Las Hilanderas (The spinners) / The Fable of Arachne (La fábula de Aracne) ca. 1657. Oil on canvas 222,5 × 293 cm. Prado

The x-ray of the canvas reveals the multiple patches used to expand the originally cramped yet ingeniously reversed POV of the theme.

In 1948, art historian Diego Angula produced a convincing argument that the iconography of Las Hilanderas suggests the Fable of Arachne. The helmeted figure in the background is Pallas Athena, and the tapestry visible to the viewer as the Rape of Europa, the subject that Arachne was said to depict.

The tapestry is a copy after Titian's Rape of Europa, also copied by Rubens in 1629, both prized items in the Spanish royal collection.

The reference to Titian and Rubens's copies could be a parallel to Arachne's conviction of being able to surpass goddess Athena. The POV reverse could also be a provocation by setting lay women just in the front layer...

https://www.artble.com/artists/diego_velazquez/paintings/las_hilanderas

https://www.investigart.com/2018/10/16/las-hilanderas-cuando-el-tiempo-y-la-historia-tambien-pintan/

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_f%C3%A1bula_de_Aracne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez

what are your thoughts about Arachne?

🎶 She had coming! She had coming! She only has herself to blame!🎶

But seriously tho Athena gave her a way out to apologize and live her life in peace which is very unusual in mythology bc if someone boasts about being better than a god in something they get punished immediately. Plus Athena literally taught her weaving to begin with and Arachne has the audacity to DENY this. Imagine disrespecting the one person who is the reason for your talent and success.

The real reason we have so many species of spider is because every few months Athena gets a new idea and zips down to the mini house she built for Arachne and is like ‘You want an upgrade?’ And then gives her some really cool attribute. Both to keep Arachne happy and not wanting to die and because Athena needs something to do.

It's cute that Athena wants to keep Arachne alive and happy, but as someone with arachnophobia, I wish Athena would find other ways to keep her and Arachne entertained.

I wish I could live in peace without knowing that spiders can USE THEIR WEBS TO FLY, WALK ON WATER, AND CAMOUFLAGE ON TREES.

Listen, despite thinking of myself as an expert on the whole Greek/Roman thing (history and mythology), i know maybe a 40% of the stuff? So definitely not an expert.

However, i would like to say that, from the stuff i know, y’all trust Ovid way too much and you really should trust him less. Especially on Athena.

Here’s my rough sketch of Arachne, from the famous Greek Myth.