In Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire for humans before Zeus sent Pandora. The theft is central to the mythic chain of events: Prometheus obtains fire from the gods and gives it to mortals, allowing them to cook, craft tools, and develop civilization in later interpretations.
Hesiod presents the act as a challenge to Zeus’s authority. Zeus responds by withholding fire, but Prometheus steals it and restores it to humanity. Zeus then devises Pandora as a beautiful, dangerous gift whose arrival brings suffering into the human world. The Pandora story is therefore not an isolated tale about curiosity; it is part of a larger conflict over what gods will allow humans to possess.
Later writers and artists expand Prometheus’s role into a broad symbol of invention, rebellion, and human progress. In Hesiod, however, the emphasis is more cautionary and tied to divine punishment. Fire is the specific thing Prometheus steals, not ambrosia or immortality, which belong to different parts of Greek myth.