In Greek mythology, what was Pandora made from before the gods added their gifts?

In Greek mythology, Pandora was made from earth and water before the gods added their gifts. Hesiod describes Hephaestus shaping her form from these basic materials at Zeus’s command.

The creation scene gives Pandora an artificial origin. Rather than being born through an ordinary human family, she is manufactured by a godly craftsman and then equipped by several Olympians. The material combination of earth and water echoes broader ancient Greek ideas about the physical composition or formation of living beings.

This detail is sometimes simplified to “clay,” especially in modern retellings that compare Pandora with other creation myths. Hesiod’s wording is more specific: earth and water are the ingredients named in the account. The distinction matters because Pandora’s creation is not identical to the later biblical image of Adam formed from dust, nor to every Greek account of human origins. Her story is a divine construction designed as a punishment after Prometheus gives fire to humanity.