In Greek mythology, Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora, the woman linked to the famous box.
Hesiod presents Pandora as part of Zeus’s punishment after Prometheus stole fire for humanity. Zeus instructed the gods to fashion a woman whose arrival would bring suffering to mortals. Hephaestus shaped her from earth, while other gods supplied qualities and adornments.
Pandora’s story appears most fully in Hesiod’s Works and Days, composed in archaic Greece. The later expression “Pandora’s box” is technically a mistranslation: Hesiod describes a large storage jar, or pithos, not a small box. The myth also differs between ancient sources, so details such as who specifically opened the container vary by retelling. Zeus remains the central divine authority behind Pandora’s creation in the standard Hesiodic account.