In Greek myth, Pandora is commonly described as the first woman. Hesiod’s account presents her creation as a divine response to Prometheus’s theft of fire and as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity.
The myth gives Pandora a special status that differs from later stories about mortal women. She is fashioned by the gods and receives gifts or qualities from them, which is reflected in the meaning of her name, “all-gifted.” Her arrival introduces a new condition into human society, including the spread of suffering and hardship.
Pandora is sometimes called a goddess in popular retellings, but Hesiod generally presents her as a woman created by the gods, not as one of the Olympian deities. She is also not the same figure as the earth goddess Gaia, despite occasional modern attempts to merge Greek mythological characters.
The “first woman” description belongs to the myth’s explanation of human origins. It should not be read as a historical claim about real people; it is a mythic origin story designed to explain social and cosmic conditions.