Arachne
It has also been suggested that Jeremias Gotthelf's nineteenth century novella, "The Black Spider", was heavily influenced by the Arachne story from Ovid's "Metamorphoses". In the novella, a woman is turned into a venomous spider having reneged on a deal with the devil.
Sailors' superstitions
In another myth, Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses, which the Sirens lost; out of their anguish, writes Stephanus of Byzantium, the Sirens turned white and fell into the sea at Aptera ("featherless"), where they formed the islands in the bay that were called "Souda" (modern Lefkai).
Another mythological creature, the Scylla, is a similar female sea demon that is both dangerous yet beautiful. Sirens supposedly "lured mariners to their deaths with their melodious, enchanting song", while "Scylla sent countless sailors to the depths of the sea."