In Greek mythology, Prometheus’s theft of fire prompted Zeus to devise Pandora’s punishment for humanity.
Prometheus is a Titan associated with intelligence, foresight, and the interests of humankind. In Hesiod’s narrative, he deceives Zeus during a sacrificial division and later steals fire for humans. Zeus responds by taking fire away and then by arranging a more lasting punishment: Pandora is created and sent to Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus.
The Pandora story is therefore part of a larger conflict between Zeus and Prometheus. Prometheus is eventually punished separately, being chained to a mountain while an eagle repeatedly eats his liver. Later Greek and Roman writers develop Prometheus into a more heroic champion of humanity, but Hesiod’s version is more ambivalent. The myth also differs from later stories in which Pandora herself is treated as the sole cause of suffering; in the earliest account, Zeus’s punishment and Prometheus’s defiance are central.