Throughout history, there have been many cultural epictions of spiders in popular culture, mythology and symbolism. From Greek mythology to African folklore, the spider has been used in human culture to represent many varied things and indeed endures on into the present day with characters such as Shelob from The Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man from the eponymous comic series. The spider has symbolized patience due to its hunting technique of setting webs and waiting for prey, as well as mischief and malice for its poison and the slow death it causes, its venom often seen as a curse.