In Greek mythology, what was Pandora known as in relation to humanity?

In Greek mythology, Pandora was known as the first woman.

Hesiod’s account presents Pandora as a specially created woman sent among humans after Prometheus gave them fire. The gods contributed qualities or gifts to her, and Zeus used her arrival as part of his punishment of humanity and Prometheus.

Pandora’s story appears primarily in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days. The myth is often compared with other ancient traditions about the arrival of suffering or mortality, but Pandora is specifically a woman rather than a goddess in the usual telling.

A common modern misunderstanding is that the story originally centered on a box. Hesiod describes a large storage jar, later translated or represented in European tradition as a box. The name Pandora is commonly explained as meaning “all-gifted” or “all-giving,” reflecting the gods’ contributions to her creation.