Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/41

 THE GREEK GODS 27 the 28th, the birthday of the goddess, on which they brought her a new robe (Peplus), embroidered by the ladies of the highest rank in Athens. During the fes- tal procession through the city this was fastened like a sail to a chariot made to imitate the form of a ship. Priests, old men, women and maidens, and the whole body of men capable of bearing arms, marched along with it, amid a display of the greatest magnificence, up the Acropolis to the ancient temple of the goddess. The splendid reliefs on the frieze of the cella of the Parthe- non still serve to bring this festal procession before our eyes. 39. This Peplus, moreover, calls attention to another very significant side of the nature of the goddess. The thundercloud, in which the lightnings rush hither and thither, and similarly the mist, which often covers every- thing as with a veil, were conceived of as a delicately woven fabric; and so the goddess with whom these phenomena were associated, under the name Athena Ergane (' worker '), came to be considered the inven- tress of the arts of spinning and weaving. As such she transformed into a spider the skillful Lydian weaver Arachne (' spider'), who dared to engage with her in a trial of skill. After she had once become the inven- tress of an art in which skill is of great importance for the ordinary relations of life, many other similar inventions were ascribed to her. So she developed gradually into the goddess of wisdom in general, and in that connection into the protectress of learning; and, in Hesiod, Metis (' wisdom') appears as her mother. Of course it may be that some additional influence to emphasize this phase of her character was exerted by