In Hesiod's account of Pandora, *Works and Days* tells the story as a warning about human suffering.
*Works and Days* is a didactic Greek poem traditionally attributed to Hesiod, probably composed in the archaic period. It combines advice about farming, justice, labor, and proper conduct with myths explaining why life is difficult. The Pandora episode appears in that moral and social context rather than as an isolated adventure tale.
The poem presents Zeus's punishment of humanity after Prometheus's theft of fire. Pandora becomes part of the explanation for the troubles that afflict human life. The narrative also connects her creation with a broader argument about work, responsibility, and the consequences of injustice.
Hesiod's other major surviving poem, *Theogony*, discusses the origins and genealogies of the gods, but it does not provide the same full Pandora episode. Readers sometimes name *Theogony* because it is also attributed to Hesiod. For Pandora's creation and the release of evils, *Works and Days* is the specific canonical source.