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In the course of time Athena also becomes the goddess of protection of the state, the guarantor of just laws and their lawful application. But she soon realizes that laws alone are not enough if there is a lack of prosperity.

She gives them the jug and the yoke for the edges, she also gives them the number, she teaches the women the art of cooking, weaving and spinning, so that they can achieve a certain prosperity.

She also encourages the construction of ships, shows how the wood is worked, the planks are smoothed and the frames are joined together. Under her guidance, Argo, the largest ship of its time, is built, with which Jason and his crew set out for the famous golden fleece.

Only once did Athena feel jealous of someone, an artist who wasn't exactly modest. Her name was Arachne and she was the daughter of a rich cloth merchant.

Arachne had become a true luminary of refined weaving art. She made extraordinary embroideries, imagined the most beautiful motifs and made headscarves or dresses of unique beauty.

When her call reached Athena one day, she decided to make her own picture of the child prodigy's abilities.

Athena took the shape of an old gray woman and went to the young girl.

To her great surprise she found a haughty boastful person who claimed no one in the world could weave as well as she did and clumsily she added, no one, not even the goddess Athena.

At first, Athena fasted on that as a youthful bragging, benevolently she advised Arachne to take back her words and pay homage to the goddess.

But Arachne, in her arrogant manner, remained, yes, she was ready to challenge the mighty Athena, if she dared to compete against her.

And as if to prove it, she let her fingers glide over the warp threads, the loom rattling and little by little the motifs became visible. They were the gods' love-capades and the transformations they so often make use of.

When Arachne was finished, Athena still looked at the work in the form of an old woman, she had nothing to complain about it, it was art in perfection.

Athena didn't even have to try it, the work of the young Arachne was far better than anything she could do herself.

Then the goddess grabbed the naked rage.

Although otherwise so prudently she was, she destroys everything that she gets.

When Arachne realized that the old woman was none other than Athena herself, she was completely desperate, she had committed a horrible sacrilege and terribly offended the goddess, who she values most of all.

Overrun with guilt, Arachne locked herself in her father's attic and hanged herself.

When Athena heard about it, she greatly regretted her outburst of rage.

In honor of this unjustly deceased artist, she returned to her workshop and poured a magical balm over Arachne.

The body began to shrink, shrinking and shrinking until only a tiny body was left with thin hairy legs.

So, mumbled the goddess, you will now hang forever as you have chosen, but you will continue to practice a craft Arachne, in the shape of a spider.

And so Arachne has been spinning so finely in the net ever since that it can't be destroyed by a breath of wind, for all eternity, and so she protects like all craftsmen and artists from the goddess Athena.

Part 4