In Greek mythology, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create Pandora. The command forms part of Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus challenged the divine order by giving people fire.
Hephaestus fashioned Pandora from earth, and the other gods supplied her with different qualities and gifts. Zeus then arranged for Pandora to be sent to Epimetheus, despite Prometheus’s warning that gifts from Zeus might conceal danger.
The myth presents Pandora’s creation as a deliberate divine act rather than an accidental event. Modern retellings often focus only on the container, but the earlier part of the story explains why Pandora was made and how the gods collaborated in constructing her identity.