Hesiod’s Works and Days tells the story of Pandora’s creation and the jar she opened.
The poem, attributed to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, presents Pandora as part of an explanation for humanity’s troubles. Zeus arranges for her creation after Prometheus steals fire and gives it to humans. The gods equip Pandora with various gifts before sending her to Epimetheus.
Works and Days is not solely a mythological narrative. Much of it gives advice about farming, justice, work, seafaring, and proper conduct. The Pandora episode appears in its discussion of why suffering and labor exist in the human world.
Hesiod also refers to Pandora in the Theogony, but that poem does not provide the same full account of the jar. A common mistake is to treat the familiar phrase “Pandora’s box” as Hesiod’s wording: the earliest Greek version describes a jar, or pithos, rather than a box.