In Hesiod’s account, what was the main purpose of Pandora’s creation?

In Hesiod’s account, Pandora was created to punish humanity.

The story follows Prometheus’s theft of fire for humans. Zeus responds by arranging Pandora’s creation and sending her to Epimetheus, making her part of a wider punishment connected with the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus.

Pandora’s opening of the jar releases harmful forces into the human world. Hesiod’s myth thus explains the arrival of suffering while also presenting Pandora as a divinely fashioned figure rather than as an ordinary woman who independently causes all evil.

Later retellings often frame the tale as a general lesson about curiosity. That lesson is compatible with the story’s events, but Hesiod’s original emphasis is broader: Pandora is a punishment imposed by Zeus after humans receive a forbidden or stolen benefit.