In Hesiod’s account, the earliest surviving version of Pandora’s story was written by the Greek poet Hesiod. His works preserve the ancient narrative in two major poems.
Pandora appears most fully in Works and Days, a didactic poem traditionally dated to the late eighth or early seventh century BCE. Hesiod also refers to her in the Theogony, an epic account of the origins and genealogy of the gods. These poems are the principal ancient literary sources for the story.
Hesiod’s version differs from many modern retellings. It describes a jar rather than a box, and the story’s purpose is closely connected with Zeus’s punishment of humanity after Prometheus’s theft of fire. Later translations and adaptations transformed the jar into the familiar “box.”
Homer is another foundational Greek poet, but the surviving Homeric epics do not provide the main account of Pandora’s creation. The association with Hesiod is therefore important when identifying the story’s earliest surviving literary source.