In Greek mythology, Prometheus’s theft of fire led Zeus to send Pandora as a punishment.
Prometheus was a Titan who sympathized with humanity. In the best-known versions of the myth, he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans, enabling cooking, metalworking, and technological progress. Zeus responded by punishing Prometheus and devising a separate punishment for humanity.
That punishment took the form of Pandora, whom the gods fashioned and sent to Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus. Pandora’s arrival and the opening of her container brought disease, labor, and other hardships into the human world.
The traditions are connected but not identical in every ancient source. Hesiod gives the fullest account of Pandora, while other Greek writers emphasize different details about fire and Prometheus. Still, Prometheus is the canonical figure whose defiance precedes the Pandora story.