Pandora was created as the first woman in Greek mythology before receiving the container later called Pandora’s box.
The story appears most fully in Hesiod’s Works and Days, where Zeus orders the gods to create Pandora as part of a punishment for humanity after Prometheus steals fire. Different gods contribute qualities or gifts, and Hermes gives her a deceptive, persuasive character. Pandora is then sent to Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother.
The familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” is technically a translation error. Hesiod describes a large storage jar, called a pithos in Greek, not a box. The “box” wording became established after a Renaissance translation used the Latin word pyxis.
Pandora’s story is often confused with Eve’s story because both traditions connect the first woman with the arrival of suffering. They are separate myths, however, with different settings, characters, and theological traditions.