In Greek mythology, Works and Days gives the earliest surviving full account of Pandora’s story. The poem is attributed to Hesiod and combines practical advice, moral teaching, farming guidance, and myths about the human condition.
Works and Days explains Pandora’s arrival as part of Zeus’s response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. Zeus has the gods create and adorn Pandora, then sends her to humanity. When the container associated with her is opened, destructive forces escape into the world, while hope remains inside.
The poem is not primarily a narrative about a box. Its broader concerns include justice, labor, agriculture, family conduct, and the difficult conditions of human life. The Pandora episode helps explain why suffering exists despite the gods’ power.
The Iliad and Odyssey are also major early Greek poems, but neither supplies the complete Pandora story. The later Roman epic The Aeneid belongs to a different literary tradition and does not originate the myth.