The Lydian weaver, Arachne, entered 

into a competition with the goddess 

Pallas Athena. Since in separate rooms 

a thousand colours shone through it, 

so they blended in with one another, 

confounding the observant eye. 

Thus that which is next to one another 

seems the same and what lies further 

afield unlike. Angry at the pride and 

the self-confidence of the artist, 

Athena changes the weaver 

into a spider. All weaver spiders 

are called after her Arachnidae.