In Greek mythology, what role does Zeus assign Hermes in creating Pandora?

In Greek mythology, Zeus assigns Hermes to give Pandora a deceptive character and a voice.

Hesiod’s Works and Days describes Pandora as a divinely assembled figure whose traits are supplied by several gods. Hermes, Zeus’s herald and messenger, is associated in the passage with a shameless or deceitful mind and with speech. This contribution helps explain why Pandora is connected with persuasive but unreliable communication.

The exact English wording varies among translations because the Greek text uses terms that can be rendered as “a shameless mind,” “a lying nature,” or related phrases. The stable point is Hermes’s role in furnishing Pandora with speech and deceptive qualities.

Hermes does not create the container, imprison the evils, or act as Pandora’s guardian. Those details belong to later retellings or to assumptions drawn from the modern expression “Pandora’s box.”