Arachne is the Lydian weaver whose contest with the goddess of craft and transformation into a spider is told fully in Ovid's Latin Metamorphoses, set in the Greek world of Colophon and Lydia.
Athena challenged Arachne to a weaving contest after the mortal boasted her skill exceeded the goddess's. Unable to find fault in Arachne's flawless tapestry, Athena destroyed it and transformed her into the first spider, as told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses.
Arachne wove Danaë receiving Zeus as a shower of gold into her tapestry, one of several scenes depicting the king of gods' deceptions.
Arachne wove Europa's abduction by Zeus in bull form into her tapestry, depicting the princess riding the white bull across the sea to Crete.
Arachne depicted Leda and the swan in her tapestry, showing Zeus's seduction of the Spartan queen that produced Helen and the Dioscuri.
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