In Hesiod’s account of Pandora, Hephaestus fashioned her body from earth at Zeus’s command.
Works and Days describes Zeus ordering Hephaestus to make a woman from earth. Hephaestus is the divine smith and craftsman of Greek mythology, so the creation scene fits his traditional role as a maker of extraordinary objects and beings. Pandora is then adorned and instructed by other gods.
This detail distinguishes the act of physically forming Pandora from the later gifts bestowed on her. Athena contributes clothing and craft, Aphrodite contributes charm or desirability, and Hermes supplies qualities associated with speech and character in the account. The story therefore distributes Pandora’s construction among several deities.
Pandora is sometimes described simply as “created by the gods,” which is broadly accurate but less precise. Hephaestus is the specific craftsman named for forming her from earth. The account is mythological, not a Greek scientific explanation of human origins.