In Hesiod's account of Pandora, Prometheus's theft of fire led Zeus to punish humanity. Prometheus was a Titan who sided with humans and secretly took fire from the gods for their benefit.
The fire episode is part of a wider conflict involving sacrifice. Hesiod tells how Prometheus tricked Zeus during the division of an animal sacrifice, after which Zeus withheld fire from humans. Prometheus then stole it and returned it to them, provoking Zeus's retaliation.
Pandora's creation follows this sequence. Zeus orders the gods to make and equip her, and she is sent to Epimetheus. The story thus presents Pandora not as an isolated tale but as the next stage of a dispute about fire, sacrifice, divine authority, and the human condition.
Prometheus is often remembered chiefly as a heroic benefactor, especially in later literature. Hesiod's version is more ambivalent: he is clever and sympathetic to humans, but his actions also trigger severe consequences.