Pandora is the woman who opens the container later called Pandora’s box in Greek mythology.
Hesiod presents Pandora as the first woman, created by the gods as part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus gave people fire. Different gods contribute qualities or gifts to her, which connects with the meaning of her name, commonly explained as “all-gifted.”
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” is a later translation tradition. Hesiod’s original account describes a large storage jar, or pithos, rather than a small box. When Pandora opens it, harmful things escape into the world, while hope remains inside.
Pandora is sometimes confused with Eve because both figures are linked in later comparisons with the arrival of suffering. They belong to different traditions: Pandora is a figure of Greek myth, while Eve appears in the Book of Genesis.