In Greek mythology, Hesiod’s Works and Days tells the Pandora story in the most detail. This didactic poem, usually dated to the seventh century BCE, links Pandora’s creation to the origins of human suffering and the consequences of Prometheus’s theft of fire.
The poem is addressed to Hesiod’s brother Perses and combines moral advice, farming guidance, religious practice, and myth. Its Pandora episode is therefore part of a broader argument about work, justice, and the difficult conditions of human life.
Hesiod also mentions Pandora-related material in the Theogony, but Works and Days supplies the fuller narrative of her creation, marriage to Epimetheus, and the opening of the container. The Iliad and Odyssey are Homeric epics and are not the principal ancient source for this story.