"ARACHNE STORY", Part-1.

--- In bcn2003-II@yahoogroups.com, Polat Kaya <tntr@C...> wrote:


Dear Friends,

Greetings to all. I like to share with you an interesting ancient
story and its untold relation to Turkish language. The names in the
story are important evidences for Turkish being an ancient language
and also being the source language for Greek, Latin and other
Indo-European languages.


"STORY OF ATHENA AND ARACHNE"


INTRODUCTION

In a recently produced movie entitled "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", at
one point in the story, the chief Greek character proudly refers to a
Greek mythological name "ARACHNE" explaining that his ancestors gave
that name to the world. For most watchers of the movie, probably it
did not make much of a difference. However, it made a deep impression
on me. In this paper, we will have an indepth look at that name. To
our amazement we will see some very eye opening realities behind it.
If you come with me, we will explore it together.

Mark P. O. Morford and Robert J. Lenardon [1] provide for us an
interesting mythological story named Arachne. This beautiful story is
a legendary riddle embellished with some facts related to ancient
Lydians. I am particularly interested in the title name of the story
and also some of the other names that appear in it. I want to share
with you my analysis that gives certain insight that is not likely to
have been known before.

Mark P. O. Morford and Robert J. Lenardon write: "The famous story of
Arachne bears testimony to the importance of Athena as the patroness
of women's household arts, especially spinning and weaving. In Ovid's
account (Metamorphoses 6. 5-145) Athena has, of course, become the
Roman Minerva." Then, they give the following story:

"Minerva turned her mind to Arachne's destruction, for she had heard
that her fame as a worker in wool equaled her own. Arachne's birth
and position brought her no distinction - it was her skill that did.
Idmon of Colophon was her father, who dyed the thirsty wool with
Ionian purple; her mother, who also was low birth like her husband,
had died. Yet their daughter, Arachne, for all that she was born in a
lowly family living at lowly Hypaepa, pursued her quest for fame
throughout the cities of Lydia by her work. The nymphs of Tmolus
often left their vineyards, the nymphs of Pactolus often left their
watersæto see and wonder at Arachne's handi work. Nor was their
pleasure merely in seeing her finished work, but also in observing her
at work, such delight was in her skill. Whether at the beginning she
gathered the unworked wool into balls, or worked with it with her
fingers and drew out lengths of fleece like clouds, or with
swift-moving thumb turned the smooth spindle, or whether she used her
embroidering needleæyou would know that Minerva had taught her. Yet
she would not admit this; jealos of her great teacher she said. "Let
her compete with me; if she wins I deny her nothing."

Minerva disguised herself as an old women, white haired and supporting
herself upon a stick, and spoke as follows: "Not everything that old
age brings is to be avoided; experience comes with the passing years.
Do not despise my advice! Let your ambition be to excel mortal woman
at weaving; give place to the goddess and pray for her forgiveness for
your rash words! She will pardon you if you pray." Arachne glowered
at her: leaving her half finished work and with difficulty restraining
herself from blows, she openly showed her anger by her expression, as
attacked disguised Minerva with these words: "You old fool, enfeebled
by the advanced old age. Too long a life has done you no good! Keep
your advice for your sons' wives (if you have any) and your daughter.
I can think for myself, and you need not think your advice does any
good- you will not change my mind. Why does not the goddess herself
come? Why does she refuse to compete with me?"

Then Minerva cried: "She has come! And throwing off her disguise she
showed herself as she was, the goddess Minerva. The nymphs and women
of Lydia worshipped her divine presence; Arachne alone felt no awe.
Yet she blushed; a sudden flush stole over her face inspite of herself
and as suddenly faded, like the red glow of the sky when Dawn first
glows just before the heavens begin to whiten with the sun's rising.
Obstinately she held to her course and rushed to destruction in her
foolish desire for the price. Jubiter's daughter resisted no more;
she offered no more advice; no more did she put off the competetion."

"Ovid goes on to describe the weaving contest. Each weaves a tapestry
at her loom with surpassing skill, depicting scenes from mythology.
Minerva displayed her contest with Neptune for the lordship of Attica
and adds four subordinate scenes of mortals who challenged gods and
were turned by them into other shapes. The whole was framed by an
olive-tree motive: with her own tree she concluded her work."

"Unwarned by the lessons of Minerva's legends, Arachne depicted scenes
of the god's less honorable amorous conquestsæwhere Jupiter, Neptune,
Apollo, Baccus, and Saturm deceived goddesses and mortal women. As
she completed her tapestry with a design of trailing ivy, Minerva's
angerburst forth. Ovid continues:

Minerva could find no fault with the work, not even Envy herself
could. Angered by Arachne's success, the golden haired goddess tore up
the embroidered tapestry with its stories of god's shameful deeds.
With the boxwood shuttle she beat Arachne's face repeatedly. In grief
Arachne strangled herself, stopping the passage of life with a noose.
Minerva pitied her as she was hanging and raised her up with these
words: "Stubborn girl, live, yet hang! Andæto make you anxious for the
futureæmay the same punishment be decreed for all your descendents."

With these words Minerva sprinkled her with the juice of a magic herb.
As the fateful liquid touched her, Arachne's hair dropped off; her
nose and ears vanished, and her head was shrunken; her whole body was
contracted. From her side thin fingers dangled for legs, and the rest
became her belly. Yet still from this she lets the thread issue forth
and, a spider now, practices her former weaving art.

This story also illustrates the severe, moral earnestness of this
warrior maiden that is often only too apparent."


ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

This beautiful story is an embellished riddle built around one of
nature's most accomplished spinner and weaver, the "spider". The
spider does its spinning and weaving out of necessity for survival. An
unfortunate intruder into her net gets quickly entangled with one of
nature's strongest natural yarns, that is the spider's silk thread,
and soon becomes a meal.

Spiders are known to build their nets most everywhere. They are also
known to weave their nets inside houses, at places where their nets do
not get to be disturbed. Particularly, unreachable corners of a room
are better places where they build their nets. However, most often
then not, the lady of the house cannot stand the sight of having a
spider's net in her house. Hence, at the first sighting of the net,
the fight starts and usually the lady of the house becomes the victor.
She by using a sweeper or like object, removes the spider's net and
more likely at the same time kills the spider in the process. In such
a fight, if the spider is lucky, it may get away while hanging
herself with a string of her own making. Note the "pun" used in the
word "hanging".

In the story, angry Athena (Minerva) uses her shuttle to beat Arachne.
Embedded in the name of the story there are a number of Turkish words
and expressions which are very relevant to the story. Therefore first
I wish to dwell on the name Arachne.

In Cassell's Latin - English Dictionary, Arachne is defined as the
"Lydian maiden turned into a spider by Minerva." In the story while
in one hand, Arachne personifies young Lydian girls who learn spinning
wool and weaving colourful carpets to become experts in the art of
weaving at a young age, on the other hand she personifies one of
nature's most skillful spinner and weaver animals , the spider.

Arachne, for all that she was born in a lowly family living at lowly
Hypaepa, pursued her quest for fame throughout the cities of Lydia by
her work.

The name HYPAEPA is an anagram of Türkish phrase "ÖY PAPA" (Öy-baba,
baba evi) meaning "house of the father" where all girls are born and
stay until they are married off. In a similar manner "ÖY PUPA" (pupa
öyü) where an insect gets to be born. Here there seems to be a pun
being played on words.


First the name ARACHNE.

a) In the story, both the goddess ATHENA and the Lydian girl so-called
ARACHNE are expert weavers. Hence both of them are representative of
ancient Lydian and Phrygian women who did a lot of work in spinning
wool and weaving all kinds of objects of necessity and art. The
remnants of tapestry from the ancient Turkish world are evidences of
that ancient weaving culture.

The name ARACHNE, when syllabalized as "ARACH-NE", is an anagram of
the Turkish phrase "ÖRÜCI eNE" (örücü ana) meaning "weaver mother".
Here, it must be noted that the Greek capital letter H is also the
disguised letter "I" [2]. Hence, again we are facing a duality case.
The letter looks like a symbol for Latin H, yet when read, it is
supposed to sound as "I', but when written in small lettering, it is
written in an "n" like symbol. Very confusing to say the least. Thus,
this Greek symbol can be used in a number of ways and can be mistaken
for different things at different occasions. However this multi
identity is good for camouflaging the Turkish source text while being
anagrammatized. In this anagrammatizing, the Turkish word "ÖRÜCI"
meaning "weaver" and "ENE/ANA" meaning "mother" and the composite name
"ÖRÜCI eNE" (örücü ene/ana) meaning "weaver mother" all have been
preserved in a so-called Greek word.

It may be useful to mention here the French name "ARAIGNEE" meaning
"spider". This French word "ARAIGNEE", when rearranged as "ARAGIENE",
and replacing G with C and A with Ö, is an anagram of Turkish "ÖRÖCI
ENE" (örücü ene) meaning "weaver mother". Thus, even this French name
testifies that the name has been anagrammatized from a Turkish
expression.

The Latin "ARANEA" is the word for "spider". "ARANEA" is an anagram
of Turkish "ÖREN ÖY" (Öy ören) meaning "that who weaves home" which a
spider does.

b) The name ARACHNE, when rearranged as "ARA-CHNE", with C/K
translation, is an anagram of the Turkish phrase "ORO KHANA" (Örü
khana) meaning the 'weaving loom" on which the carpets, etc. are
woven.

c) The name ARACHNE, when rearranged as "ARAC-HNE", with C/K
translation, is an anagram of the Turkish phrase "OROK-HANA" (örük
hane) meaning the "weaving room" where the weaving is done.

d) The name ARACHNE, when rearranged as "CEHRANA" or "CAHRANE" is an
anagram of the Turkish phrase "CEHRE-ANA" meaning "spinning wheel
mother" or "spinning lady" who spins wool into thread by means of a
spinning wheel. In this Turkish expression, the word "CEHRE" or
"CAHRA" means the "spinning wheel". In my childhood home in my
village in Eastern Anatolia, we had one of these "cehre", and my
grandmother used to spin wool with it for all sorts of usage in the
house. My grandmother, since her young girlhood age, was used to
working with wool and spinning it not only with "cehre" but also with
spinning "spindle" which was called "TEShI" (egirmen) in the Turkish
of my village.

Thus it is seen that the ancient Turkish word "CEHRE" is also
preserved in an encryptic manner in the name ARACHNE of the story.
Implied in this is the meaning that in ancient Lydia and Phrygia, the
term for "spinning wheel" was also known as "CEHRE", that is, the same
as it is in Turkish.

e) Finally, the name ARACHNE, when rearranged as "ARANCEH", is seen to
be an anagram of Turkish word "ARANCEH" (ÖRÜNCEK, ÖRÜMCEK) meaning
"SPIDER". This indicates that the root of the word ARACHNE is actually
Turkish "ARANCEH" (ÖRÜNCEK, ÖRÜMCEK). Evidently, Lydians knew and
used this Turkish word "ARANCEH" (ÖRÜNCEK) for spider in their
language.

All of the above names are derivatives of to the Turkish verb "örmek"
meaning "to weave".


The name ATHENA (Greek ATHENE)

a) In the story the Lydian girl Arachne is in competition with
goddess ATHENA (Roman Minerva). Goddess Athena disguises herself as an
old woman, white haired and supporting herself upon a stick. In this
description she is the personification of the "grandmother", i.e,
"ATAANA" meaning "father's mother" in Turkish,

My own ATAANA, like many other Turkish grandmothers and in metaphor
with the goddess ATHENA, was a master spinner and weaver in the house,
a typical Turkish house in the village, probably like the grandmothers
of the ancient Lydians and Phrygians. She would know how to setup a
loom, how to start the carpet weaving, how to weave various Turkish
carpet patterns in hand woven Turkish rugs, kilims, tapestries, etc.
Young girls and women of the house were her pupils in such matters.
Additionally, like the goddess ATHENA in the above story, my "ATAANA",
being the "EÇE" lady, i.e., the foremost respected lady of the house
was an expert authority in all womenly things that mattered to women
folks of the house.

b) Additionally, the name of the goddess ATHENA is an anagram of
Turkish name "AT-ANA" (AD-ANA), that is, "Name-Mother" (name giver).
This again refers to "grandmother" who named the newly born children
in the family. What the grandmother suggested as a name for a baby
would normally be accepted by the parents.

The name ATHENA is a femininized name from Turkish "AT-HAN" (AD-HAN)
meaning "Lord name giver". It must be noted that Turkish word "HAN" is
a masculine name. To make it a feminine name, the suffix -a is added,
thus making the name "HANA" meaning "woman ruler" or "goddess".

Another name like this one is the Turkish "DEDE KORKUT" who is the
name giver in ancient Turanian culture. When DEDE KORKUT is read as
"DEDE KOR KUT" it means "Grandfather Sacred Fire" meaning the SUN,
that is, "GÜN" or "GÜNESh" in Turkish. Sun as the longest living
creator entity in our immediate sky is surely the "grandfather" of all
grandfathers or the "grandmother" of all grandmothers. In the SUN
(OGOZ) worshipping culture of ancient Turanians, its name and
attributes have been given as names to many concepts. Thus making the
Turkish language an OGUZ (SUN) language. Hence in this context, the
so-called Greek name ATHENA is a femininized version of Turkish
"AD-HAN" or the "DEDE KORKUT". Name ATHENA can be viewed as Turkish
"AT-HAN + A (femininity suffix)" making the name "Name Goddess" while
"AT-HAN" is the "Name Lord".

Mythologically, it is said that ATHENA was born from the head of ZEUS
in complete shape and form equipped with all her armaments. Of
course, this is a metaphor. First of all, the name ZEUS is not only
an anagram of Turkish "aZ-OUZ" (Essiz Oguz) meaning "peerless OGUZ"
the sky-god, but also an anagram of Turkish "aZ-AUZ" (Essiz Aguz)
meaning "peerless mouth" which generates the words. It is for this
reason that when Greek ZEUS is read phonetically as in Turkish, it
becomes evident that it is also an anagram of Turkish "SÖZ" meaning
"word" or "language".

Since ATHENA is the "name goddess" and representing names, and names
are words ((SÖZ) that come out from the mouth, an opening in the
"head" of man, thus the personified Athena gets to be born from ZEUS's
head in full and complete "form". Thus Athena (name) does not require
a mother because ZEUS the "SÖZ" creates her. Hence, the "NAME" of a
person or a thing, like the goddess ATHENA, is always a singleton and
never gets "married".

In addition to this concept behind the Greek goddess ATHENE, with
Turkish OGUZ and AGUZ, we have the source for the expression that:

"IN [THE] BEGINNING THE WORD WAS, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE
WORD WAS GOD. THIS ONE WAS IN [THE] BEGINNING WITH GOD" from Old
Testament, JOHN 1:1.

Evidently, this ancient OGUZ and AGUZ relation, an ancient life
philosophy of the Tur/Turk world, has been usurped and adopted into
the Old Testament. Of course without mentioning the name OGUZ/AGUZ and
without giving any source reference.

With these illustrations, it is clear that the Greek name ATHENE is
not only a personification of the "grandmother" of the family, but
also is an anagram of the Turkish names; a) "ATAANA" (grandmother),
and b) "AT-ANA"(name mother) and c) "AT-HANA" (name goddess). All of
these Turkic expressions are combined in the name ATHENA.


The Roman Name MINERVA

The Roman name MINERVA is defined as "goddess of wisdom and patroness
of art and sciences also alternatively used for wit, skill and art,
specially working in wool." [3] She is the Roman goddess identified
with the Greek ATHENA. This name also stands for various
personifications. Embedded in MINERVA there are Turkish words and
expressions which are relevant to the ARACHNE story since it appears
as part of the story.

a) When one views the name MINERVA as "MIN ER VA", it is very much an
anagram of Turkish expression "MIN AR eVE" (Men Er evi, men arvat)
meaning "I am home for man" referring to the "lady of the house" who
makes a "house" a "home". In this context, MINERVA is the "wife" or
the "woman" of the house.

b) MINERVA when rearranged as "V ER ANIM" and with V = U, is an
anagram of Turkish phrase "U ER ANAM" meaning "She is mother of
husband" which makes her "grandmother".

c) MINERVA when rearranged as "VRME ANI" and with V = U, is an
anagram of Turkish phrase "URME ANA" (örme ana) meaning "weaver
mother".

d) MINERVA when rearranged as "VRI ANEM" and with V = U, is an
anagram of Turkish phrase "hURI ANAM" (huri anam, peri anam) meaning
"my fairy mother" or "my goddess mother".

e) MINERVA, when rearranged backwards as "AVRENIM" and with V = U, is
ana anagram of Turkish phrase "A URENIM" (Birinci örenim) meaning "I
am first class weaver". Those who excel in any field get the grade
"A" indicating that they are first class performers. In this case
goddess Minerva is presented as such a first class weaver in the
Arachne story.

All these Turkish definitions fit the definition of the so-called
Roman goddess very well. With these qualifications, MINERVA can be
identified with the Turkish "ATAANA", i.e., the "grandmother". In
ancient Turkic societies "grandmother" was a real ruler of the home.
In that role, each woman got her turn as she became a grandmother of
the family.

f) In the story, Minerva is also defined as Jupiter's daughter in
the paragraph:

"Then Minerva cried: "She has come! And throwing off her disguise she
showed herself as she was, the goddess Minerva. The nymphs and women
of Lydia worshipped her divine presence; Arachne alone felt no awe.
Yet she blushed; a sudden flush stole over her face inspite of herself
and as suddenly faded, like the red glow of the sky when Dawn first
glows just before the heavens begin to whiten with the sun's rising.
Obstinately she held to her course and rushed to destruction in her
foolish desire for the price. Jupiter's daughter resisted no more;
she offered no more advice; no more did she put off the competetion.

Here, MINERVA, when rearranged as "MIN REYA", is an anagram of Turkish
"MIN REYA", with V = Y, meaning "I am sun and/or the sunlight". In
ancient times, ER/RE/RA was also known as the name of Sun-God. The
name "REYA" makes sun a goddess. Additionally, "REYA" is the name for
"sun rays". This is clearly defined in the above given description of
Minerva. Of course, the name Athena also meets this qualification by
being the Turkish "OT HANA" (OD HANA) meaning "Goddess of Fire", i.e.,
the feminine form of "OD-HAN" (GÜN-HAN) meaning "Fire Lord" referring
to sun.

Although, when MINERVA the Sun was rising and the sunlight was filling
the daytime, the nymphs and women of Lydia worshipped her divine
presence as the "sun" worshipping people of Lydia would do; but,
ARACHNE, being a spider, was probably not impressed. She kept weaving
her own tapestry.

g) Finally MINERVA, when rearranged backwards as "AVRENIM", becomes
the Turkish word "EVRENIM" meaning "I am the universe" which makes her
truly a "goddess" since "universe" is the mother for all kinds of
creations. It must be noted that the English term "UNIVERSAL", when
rearranged as "U IVRENSAL", is nothing but the anagram of Turkish
phrase "U-EVRENSEL" (O evrensel) meaning "it is universal".

This meaning of Latin MINERVA is also verified by the name ATHENA
which, when rearranged and viewed as "AT HANE", becomes the Turkish
"ATa-HANE" (ATA Hane) meaning "Home of FATHER" referring not only to
the "house of father," but also to the "sky" (the universe) which is
the "home of the creator Sky-Father-God". Thus, the name ATHENA, like
the name MINERVA, also stands for the sky, i.e., the universe.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This analysis has shown conclusively that:

1. The name ARACHNE is an anagram of a number of Turkish expressions:
a) ÖRÜNCEH (örümcek) meaning "spider"; b) "ÖRÜCI ENE" (weaver
mother); c) "ÖRÜ KHANA" (weaving loom); d) "ÖRÜK-HANA" (weaving
room); e) "CEHRE-ANA" (spinning-wheel mother). All of these Turkish
expressions have been combined in the word ARACHNE.

2. The name ATHENA is an anagram of the following Turkish expressions
all combined in one name: a) "ATAANA" (grandmother); b) "AT-ANA"(name
mother); c) "AT-HANA" (name goddess); d) "ATA-HANA" (home of father);
e) "ATA-HANA" (Sky as the home of the Sky-Father-God); and f)
"OT-HANA" (Goddess of Fire).

3. The Roman name MINERVA is an anagram of the following Turkish
expressions all combined in one: a) "MEN ER EVI" (I am home for man);
b) "U ER ANAM" (she is mother of husband, i.e., "grandmother"; c)
"URME ANA" (weaver mother); d) "hURI ANAM" (my goddess mother); e) "A
URENIM" (I am first class weaver); f) "MIN REYA", (I am sun and/or the
sunlight); and g) "EVRENIM" (I am the universe).

4. Those who formulated these names in this riddle story must have
been not only very articulate in the Turkish language but also must
have had great knowledge of the weaving culture of Turkish peoples at
the time of Lydians. Additionally they knew how to formulate Turkish
words that could have multiple meanings which was an ancient Tur/Turk
tradition particularly in coming up with titles for kings and other
notables.

5. The riddle story of Arachne was most likely Lydian in origin and in
Turkish as spoken by Lydians of that time - rather than in Greek.
Evidently, the Greeks usurped it from Lydian culture like they
manufactured words for their language from Turkish by way of
anagrammatization. Of course modern Greeks will claim the Arachne
story as their own because it has been repeatedly identified as
"Greek" mythology, but the above analysis shows that the names
appearing in the Arachne story are not Greek but rather Turkish in
origin with alterations to make them appear as Indo-European.

6. The ancient world peoples had great interest in riddle making and
solving. The Turkish researcher Prof. Dr. Ilhan Basgöz has listed
some 14,000 Turkish riddles in his book indicating extensive interest
in riddles by Turkish people. [4] Even the famed Sphinx riddle is
found among them. Turkish words were well suited for riddle making
because one could read a Turkish word in different ways and get
several differing meanings out of it.

7. The above analysis show that Lydians, Phrygians and most other
Anatolians were Turkish speaking Tur/Turk peoples of the ancient world
contrary to fallacious claims that they were Indo-Europeans and
Indo-European speakers.

8. The Lydians were the native Tur/Turk peoples of Anatolia where
they had dominating presence since very early times. The fact that
Anatolia was called "Asia Minor" indicating that it was a small copy
of the "Asia Major" (Central Asia) also supports this view. The
anagrammatized names of TROY (TROIE) from Turkish "TUR ÖYÜ" and
TROJANS from Turkish "TUR ÖIAN", (-an = -ler the ancient Turkish
plurality suffix), verifies that they were Tur peoples.

9. Like all Turkish speaking Turanians, the Lydians, Phrygians and
others were the believers of ancient Turanian trinity sky-god
religion, that is, believing in the Sky-Father-God, the Sun-God and
the Moon-God.

10. Since the ancient Greeks and other Indo-Europeans anagrammatized
these words from Turkish expressions, it is reasonable to say that
they anagrammatized many other Turkish words and phrases as well.

11. It can be said that ancient Greeks themselves knew and spoke
Turkish in a widely Turkish speaking world before they manufactured
the Greek language from Turkish by way of anagrammatizing. The names
appearing in this story are verifications of that fact. It is highly
likely that many names appearing in other so-called Greek mythologies
are also anagrammatized from Turkish. What is so often referred to in
literature as "Greek" in origin may actually originate from the
earlier native Tur/Turk peoples who antedated the Indo-Europeans in
Asia, Europe, Middle East and North Africa. Many authors dealing
with the ancient Greek mythological stories refer to Thracia, Anatolia
and the ancient orient as the source of many of them.


REFERENCES

[1] Mark P. O. Morford (University of Virginia) and Robert J.
Lenardon The Ohio State University, Emeritus), "Classical Mythology",
Longman, New York and London, 1991, p. 135-137.

[2] George C. Divry (General editor), "English-Greek" and
"Greek-English Desk Dictionary", D. C. Divry, Inc., Publishers, New
York 1988, p. 10.

[3] Cassell's Latin - English and English - Latin Dictionary",
MACMILLAN,USA,1987, p. 141.

[4] Ilhan Basgöz, Türk Bilmeceleri", Kültür Bakanligi, Ankara,
1993.

END of PART-1.

Best wishes to all,

Polat Kaya,

10 September 2003