Long long ago, in the age before television, there was a woman named Arachne (pronounced like a-rack-knee). Arachne was a weaver who made rugs and tapestries that were very beautiful. People from all over the land would come to her work and complimented her on them. She became so famous for her weaving that one day the goddess Athena came to visit. Athena was the goddess of wisdom, art and skill which also included weaving, and she wanted to know what Arachne had done with the talents Athena had blessed her with. While there she heard Arachne boasting how good her weaving was, how it was better then the gods themselves could do. Athena was upset by this and challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. Both Arachne and Athena sat before a loom and wove the most intricate tapestry they could, afterwards the people came to judge between them. The people eventually chose Arachne’s tapestry as the better one and determined that Arachne was a better weaver then even Athena. Arachne began to boast even more and started to make fun of Athena. Athena was angry that she lost, but was enraged by how Arachne was making fun of her. She then turned Arachne into the first spider so that she would weave forever. This is where spiders came from and why spiders are sometimes called arachnids.