Hesiod first told the story of Pandora and her container in detail in his poems Works and Days and Theogony.
Works and Days gives the fuller narrative. Zeus sends Pandora to punish humanity after Prometheus steals fire for mortals. Theogony also mentions Pandora, but its account is shorter and focuses on the creation of the first woman.
The familiar expression “Pandora’s box” is based on later translation and retelling. Hesiod’s Greek text describes a large storage jar, not a box. The poet’s account is therefore the earliest major literary source for the myth as it is usually known today.
Hesiod probably lived in the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. He is commonly grouped with Homer as one of the earliest Greek poets, although their exact dates and relationship remain uncertain.