In Greek mythology, Zeus sent Pandora to humanity as part of his punishment of Prometheus.
Prometheus had defied Zeus by stealing fire and giving it to human beings. Hesiod’s account presents Pandora as a further consequence imposed on humanity after that act. Zeus ordered the gods to create her, and each god supplied a quality or adornment, producing the name Pandora, often interpreted as “all-gifted.”
The myth belongs to a wider group of Greek stories explaining why suffering and labor exist in the human world. Different ancient and modern retellings rearrange the sequence and assign varying motives, but Zeus’s role as the ruler who directs Pandora’s creation is consistent in the standard account.