In Greek mythology, Pandora was a woman before Zeus sent her to Epimetheus.
Hesiod describes Pandora as the first woman, fashioned from earth by Hephaestus at Zeus’s command. The gods then furnish her with different qualities, including beauty, speech, and deceptive behavior, before she is presented to Epimetheus.
Pandora is sometimes casually called a goddess because she is created and equipped by gods, but Hesiod’s account distinguishes her from the Olympian deities. She is a constructed human woman who becomes central to the mythic explanation of human suffering and the separation between gods and mortals.
Later art and literature often portray Pandora in divine or allegorical forms, which can blur her original status. In the ancient narrative, however, her identity as the first woman is the key point, while the gods remain her makers and benefactors.