Spider told by the Roman poet Ovid in his "Metamorphoses", Arachne was a Lydian girl who challenged the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. Arachne won, but Athena destroyed her tapestry out of jealousy, causing Arachne to hang herself. In an act of mercy, Athena brought Arachne back to life as the first spider. Stories about the trickster-spider Anansi are prominent in the folk traditions of the Asante people of Ghana. In some cultures, spiders have symbolized patience due to their hunting technique of setting webs and waiting for prey, as well as mischief and malice due to their venomous bites.
Athena Areia Athena Areia Areia () was a cultic epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, under which she was worshipped at Athens. Athena's statue, together with those of Ares, Aphrodite Areia, and Enyo, stood in the temple of Ares at Athens. There was also a colossal acrolithic statue of her, at a temple at Plataea, built with the spoils given to that city by the Athenians after the Battle of Marathon. This was supposedly created by the artist Pheidias, though there is some disagreement among modern scholars whether this was indeed created by that artist. Plutarch mentions a gilded statue in this