Home › Glossary › Letter A

Arachne

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Mortal weaver whose tapestry rivaled Athena’s; punished by being transformed into a spider, symbolizing artistic pride and fate.

Detailed Definition
Arachne was a mortal weaver whose skill rivaled Athena’s; after defeating the goddess in a contest but depicting the gods’ misdeeds, she was transformed into a spider. Her myth warns against hubris and artistic overreach. In poetry, Arachne symbolizes the creative spirit punished for truth-telling, as well as the eternal act of weaving—both literal and metaphorical.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells how Arachne, a mortal weaver, challenges Athena and is transformed into a spider; Dante references Arachne in Purgatorio as a symbol of artistic hubris; In Renaissance sonnets, Arachne represents the perils of human pride in creation; Modern poets like Sylvia Plath use Arachne as a metaphor for female creativity and punishment; Arachne appears in mythographic poetry as the origin of weaving and spiders; Contemporary verse reclaims Arachne as a symbol of subversive artistry.
Additional Notes
Arachne, a mortal weaver who challenged Athena and was transformed into a spider, symbolizes hubris, artistic rivalry, and metamorphosis; Ovid’s version emphasizes her skill and tragic pride—poets use her to reflect on creativity, punishment, or the gendered dynamics of artistic competition; her name gives us “arachnid,” linking myth to language.
Also Known As
Weaver Turned Spider Challenger of Athena Arákne
Skip to main content