[Animal Facts]    [Spider Index]    [Activities]    [Facts]    [Photos]

KidZone Spider Facts
Spider Myths and Folklore

There is a Greek myth about a country girl named Arachne.  She was a wonderful spinner of threads.  As the myth goes, the Greek goddess Athena was very jealous of Arachne.  Arachne bragged that she was a much more talented weaver than Athena, and challenged the goddess to a weaving contest.  Arachne was quite arrogant and again insulted the goddess by weaving pictures that made the gods (titans) look bad.  Athena became so angry that she turned Arachne into a spider and forced her to live the rest of her life weaving webs.

Another ending to this story is that Athena tore up all Arachne’s beautiful weaving and the distraught Arachne hung herself.  Athena felt so bad for her that she turned Arachne into a spider and vowed that all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.

Maman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by Pierre Metivier,
licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Spiders are very popular in African folklore.  They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.  One popular spider in African mythology is Anansi. 

There are also children's rhymes about spiders like "Little Miss Muffet" and "Itsy, Bitsy Spider".

 

< PREV      NEXT >

 
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_2_0": ["ul weaving and the distraught Arachne hung herself.&nbsp;\r\n\t\tAthena felt so bad for her that she turned Arachne into a spider and vowed that all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.</p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"floatRight\">\r\n<img style=\"border:0\" src=\"images/maman.jpg\" alt=\"maman spider statue\"><p class=\"textSmall\">\r\n\tMaman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by \t<a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/feuilllu/\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n\tPierre Metivier</a>, <br>licensed under\r\n\t<a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/\" target=\"_blank\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></p>\r\n\t\t</div>\r\n\t\t<p>Spiders are very popular in African folklore.&nbsp; They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.&nbsp; One popular spider \r\n\t\tin African mythology is \r\nAnansi.&nbsp; </p>\r\n<p>There are also children's rhymes about spiders like &quot;<a href=\"http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/missmuffet/\">Little Miss Muffet</a>&quot; and\r\n\t\t&quot;<a href=\"http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/spider/index.htm\">Itsy, Bitsy "], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["at all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.\n\nMaman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by Pierre Metivier,\nlicensed under CC BY-SA 2.0\n\nSpiders are very popular in African folklore.\u00a0 They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.\u00a0 One popular spider in African mythology is Anansi.\u00a0\n\nThere are also children's rhymes about spiders like \"Little Miss Muffet\" and \"Itsy, Bitsy Spider\".\n\n\u00a0\n\n< PREV\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 NEXT >\n\n\u00a0", "at all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.\n\nMaman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by Pierre Metivier,\nlicensed under CC BY-SA 2.0\n\nSpiders are very popular in African folklore.\u00a0 They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.\u00a0 One popular spider in African mythology is Anansi.\u00a0\n\nThere are also children's rhymes about spiders like \"Little Miss Muffet\" and \"Itsy, Bitsy Spider\".\n\n\u00a0\n\n< PREV\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 NEXT >\n\n\u00a0", "at all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.\n\nMaman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by Pierre Metivier,\nlicensed under CC BY-SA 2.0\n\nSpiders are very popular in African folklore.\u00a0 They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.\u00a0 One popular spider in African mythology is Anansi.\u00a0\n\nThere are also children's rhymes about spiders like \"Little Miss Muffet\" and \"Itsy, Bitsy Spider\".\n\n\u00a0\n\n< PREV\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 NEXT >\n\n\u00a0", "at all her relatives, forevermore, would be weavers of beautiful webs.\n\nMaman spider statue (travels the world!), photo by Pierre Metivier,\nlicensed under CC BY-SA 2.0\n\nSpiders are very popular in African folklore.\u00a0 They are usually very tricky but they almost always end up getting caught and learning a valuable lesson.\u00a0 One popular spider in African mythology is Anansi.\u00a0\n\nThere are also children's rhymes about spiders like \"Little Miss Muffet\" and \"Itsy, Bitsy Spider\".\n\n\u00a0\n\n< PREV\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 NEXT >\n\n\u00a0"]}