Pandora was the first woman in Greek mythology who opened Pandora’s container. Hesiod presents her as a divinely created figure whose arrival brought hidden troubles into the human world.
The gods gave Pandora different qualities and gifts, and Zeus sent her to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Although Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus, Epimetheus welcomed Pandora.
Pandora’s story appears most fully in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greece. The familiar expression “Pandora’s box” comes from later translation and retelling; Hesiod actually described a large storage jar.
The myth is often confused with the story of Eve because both figures are associated with the introduction of suffering. They are separate traditions, however, with different characters, settings, and religious backgrounds.