Pandora was the first woman created by the gods in the Greek myth associated with Pandora’s jar. Her name comes from Greek words meaning “all-gifted” or “all-giving,” reflecting the gifts given to her by the gods.
According to Hesiod, Pandora was fashioned after Zeus ordered her creation as part of his punishment of humanity and Prometheus. Hephaestus shaped her from earth, while other gods supplied qualities such as beauty, skill, persuasion, and curiosity. Hermes gave her a deceptive nature in some versions of the story.
Pandora’s story is preserved most famously in Hesiod’s Works and Days, written in ancient Greece. The popular English expression “Pandora’s box” comes from a later mistranslation: the original Greek vessel was a large storage jar called a pithos. Pandora is therefore not simply a symbol of curiosity; she is also part of an ancient explanation for why suffering entered human life.