Around which century BCE did Hesiod compose the main surviving Greek account of Pandora?

Hesiod composed the main surviving Greek account of Pandora around the 8th century BCE.

Hesiod was an early Greek poet traditionally dated to the late 8th or early 7th century BCE. His Works and Days contains the fullest surviving narrative of Pandora’s creation, her marriage to Epimetheus, and the opening of the container that released suffering into the world. The Theogony also refers to Pandora, but in a much briefer way.

The date is approximate because no securely dated contemporary biography of Hesiod survives. Scholars place his poetry near the beginning of Greek literary history, shortly after the period when Greek alphabetic writing became established. His works were transmitted through later manuscript copies, not preserved in an original autograph.

The myth predates the classical Greek writers of the 5th century BCE. Therefore, dating Pandora’s main literary account to the classical period is a common chronological mistake.