The myth of Athena and Arachne: some oedipal and pre-oedipal aspects of creative challenge in women and their implications for the interpretation of Las Meninas by Velazquez.

This paper interprets the myth of Athena and Arachne, as told by Ovid, as a metaphor for mother-daughter conflict. It discusses pre-oedipal and oedipal aspects of the myth with particular focus on creative challenge and artistic competition. A fragment of a clinical case in which the transference exhibited dynamics inherent in the myth is presented. It is proposed that the analyst's knowledge of myth can be helpful in understanding transference manifestations. Finally, Velazquez's Las Meninas is discussed in the light of the myth, which is the subject of the small painting on the back wall above and to the left of the mirror. The author argues that, just as myth can elucidate psychoanalysis, so psychoanalysis can elucidate myth and its inclusion in an artist's iconography.