In Greek mythology, Athena gives Pandora clothing and adornment before she is sent to Epimetheus.
Hesiod’s Works and Days describes Pandora as a divinely fashioned woman whose creation involves several gods. Athena, the goddess associated with wisdom and skilled crafts, teaches or equips her with womanly work and gives her clothing. Other gods contribute different qualities, helping explain why Pandora is presented as a constructed, composite figure rather than an ordinary human.
The myth is often shortened into the phrase “Pandora’s box,” but Hesiod’s earliest surviving account describes a jar. The goddess Athena is also frequently confused with Aphrodite because both are involved in Pandora’s preparation in later summaries, but their roles differ: Athena is associated with clothing and practical arts, while Aphrodite supplies beauty and desire.
This episode belongs to the wider punishment story connected with Prometheus and the theft of fire. Pandora’s arrival introduces suffering into a world that the myth imagines as previously free from many human troubles.