In Greek mythology, Hesiod first named Pandora in the surviving literary tradition.
Hesiod, an ancient Greek poet usually dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, gives the earliest surviving literary accounts of Pandora. His poems Theogony and Works and Days describe her creation, the gods’ contributions, and the opening of the vessel. Works and Days provides the fuller narrative of the jar and the troubles released from it.
Homer does not provide the surviving Pandora story in the same form. Ovid wrote in Latin during the Roman period, centuries after Hesiod, while Plato also belongs to a later philosophical tradition. Their dates and subjects make them important ancient authors, but they are not the earliest surviving literary source for Pandora’s myth.
The phrase “Pandora’s box” is especially associated with later retellings and translations. Studying Hesiod helps separate the early Greek story from later additions, including the familiar box-shaped container. The earliest surviving literary evidence therefore points to Hesiod, not to a later Roman or classical Greek author.