Did you ever wonder how a spider spins a silk web? Today, we have a scientific answer to this question. However, in the early days of Rome, people lacked the knowledge to provide scientific answers to this and many other questions. They explained natural events in terms of stories about gods, goddesses, and heroes called myths.
             Most myths concern gods or goddesses that had powers far greater than any human. But in spite of their supernatural powers, many gods, goddesses, and heroes of mythology had human characteristics. They exhibited such emotions as love and jealousy, and they experience birth and death. A number of mythological figures even look like human beings. In many cases, the human qualities of these gods and goddesses reflect a society's ideals. Good gods and goddesses had the qualities a society admires, and evil ones had the qualities it dislikes.
             In Roman mythology, it was believed that a spider weaves a web because of the following myth. Jupiter was king of the gods and ruler of the universe in Roman mythology. It was believed that Minerva, his daughter, was born because he had a bad headache that could not be cured. Eventually Vulcan split open Jupiter's head. Then out of nowhere jumped Minerva in armour with a shield and spear. Minerva had a variety of functions in Roman mythology. Originally, she was the goddess of arts and crafts. She represented skill in handicrafts, particularly those associated with women, such as spinning and weaving. One tale about Minerva was that a woman called Arachne wove a perfect picture. Minerva then tried to find some thing wrong with it. When she couldn't, she demolished her whole picture and turned Arachne into a spider. That is why it is believed that the spider still weaves beautiful webs. Today. Arachnid, is the name of any member of a class of small, insect like, land animals which include the spider.
             Scientifically, we know a spider spins sil
             ...