In Greek mythology, Pandora first opened the container that released evils into the human world. She is the woman created by the gods and sent to Epimetheus as part of Zeus’s punishment.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says Pandora lifted the lid of the jar, allowing the contents to escape. The poem does not develop the later popular image of a prolonged sequence of increasingly dramatic choices; its central action is brief and mythic, serving to explain why suffering affects human beings.
Modern retellings often call Pandora’s action an act of curiosity. That interpretation became especially influential in later art and literature, but Hesiod’s text focuses more strongly on divine design, deception, and the consequences of accepting Zeus’s gift.
The container’s contents are usually summarized as evils such as disease, toil, and misery. Hope remains inside when Pandora closes the lid. Thus the story is not that Pandora released absolutely everything: the final element is explicitly left behind.